Level 5's Attack on Titan
by MrKipling22
Summary: The 7 level 5's suddenly wake up within the walls, with new identities, no abilities and a war on their hands the situation is dire. With only their knowledge from Academy City to help them can they find each other and work together well enough without Touma to keep them in line to not only survive in this new world but to win the war.
1. Chapter 1

Mikoto violently coughed as she was freed from her dark prison. Saying she was disorientated was massive understatement, everything was spinning and she couldn't move properly.

She could hear voices but they were muffled. She tried opening her eyes but everything was blurry. She was being moved around which explained the nausea.

Closing her eyes she called upon her ability to lash out at those around her.

Nothing happened.

He blood ran cold as she tried again and again getting the same result.

Tears gathered as fear gripped her heart. She didn't know where she was, who was with her and to top it off her ability wasn't responding.

She cautiously opened her eyes once the nausea stopped, everything was still blurry but she could work out what things were.

She looked up at a skin coloured blob with blurry black running over the top and down the sides, a face with black hair. The woman the said something to what she deduced to be a man standing next to her.

Frustratingly it was like being underwater and her eyes hadn't adjusted properly.

Mikoto turned her attention back to the woman and reached up to touch her face to find out see if this was real or some elaborate illusion.

She stared uncomprehendingly at the sight of her tiny hand, or at least what she thought was her hand. All she could see was a pink blob.

Her breath quickened. She couldn't think. She didn't understand.

She was oblivious to the panic around her as she tried to process what her senses were telling her.

A pain filled scream brought her out of her mini panic attack, and she looked around for the source. With a start she realised she was now in the arms of someone else. Someone with shoulder length, dark brown hair and glasses. She could also feel a blanket wrapped around her.

A few seconds later she was passed to someone else. A man with short sandy brown hair. She could feel the tears running down her cheeks as she shivered.

There were so many questions. So many things she didn't understand. She sort of understood what was going on but her mind couldn't accept it.

Reincarnation.

That was the only thing she could think of, but it didn't make sense. She didn't die, did she?

She didn't remember dying.

The woman screamed again and she closed her eyes, attempting to block out the world.

Overwhelmed didn't even begin to describe how she felt.

Soon the unmistakable sound of a baby crying filled the room and Mikoto opened her eyes.

She could just about make out a reddish pink blob being held by the person wearing glasses.

Taking a few deep breaths she tried to calm down. Panicking wasn't helping.

She thought back. The war between Science and Magic was well underway, and she was with Touma when...when?

Nothing. She couldn't remember.

She moaned and tried clutching her head as it exploded in pain.

She wasn't aware of the panic around her, all she could focus on was the pain and wishing it would stop.

* * *

Waking up was hard, at first Mikoto thought she was back in Academy City. It was only when she had trouble moving that she realised her supposed reincarnation wasn't a dream.

Meaning she was now the daughter of two strangers.

Turning to her right she could just about make out the other baby sleeping next to her. Covered by the same red blanked as her.

Turning to her left she could see the bars of the crib she and her sibling were in, and passed that the blurry figure of the man with sandy brown hair.

She teared up as her stomach rumbled and internally cursed.

As a baby everything was supposed to be instinctual. Their brains weren't developed enough to truly understand anything, but she was different. She was a 15 year old reincarnate with memories. Her brain was older than her body, in other words being a baby was going to be hell.

Her stomach rumbled again and she didn't know what to do. A baby's natural instinct would be to cry, but she was 15, stubborn, prideful and most definitely not a cry baby.

Her hands came up around her mouth almost instinctively, and by the time she realised what she was doing she was already chewing them.

She could only feel horror and disgust.

Then she nearly had a heart attack as her sibling, who was previously sleeping soundly, cried for the whole world to hear.

The loud but muffled bang that followed, could only have been the man crashing to the floor.

A few moments later he picked up the screaming baby and Mikoto heard a door open. The man then passed the baby to the woman who sat on the now vacated chair.

The woman started breastfeeding the baby and she froze when the man lifted her out the crib and passed her to the woman. The woman brought her head up to her vacant breast and Mikoto hesitated.

She knew it was vital for a baby to get milk from 'the mother' because of all the natural antibodies it provides. Breastfeeding was normal for a baby. But she wasn't a baby, not mentally. But she was physically and thus had to breastfeed. No matter how much her mind rebelled against the idea.

The woman rocked her gently obviously trying to get her to feed, and sealing away her pride she sucked.

She suckled until her little baby stomach told her it was full, whilst the other baby was still suckling even after she'd finished.

She was soon passed back to the man who cradled her gently.

Seeing her sibling made Mikoto's thoughts wander to the sisters. Wondering if they were alright, what they were doing, if Misaka 10032 still had that cat and if Accelerator was still protecting Last Order and Worst.

She still has mixed feelings about Accelerator. She doesn't hate him anymore but she finds it hard to forgive him for what he did, even though he was working hard protecting two of the sisters. They'd managed to fight together in Hawaii but it didn't change the face that he'd killed 10031, before he was defeated and finally wised up. She knew it was just an excuse to hate him, especially since she was just as much to blame for their deaths as he was. The real monsters were the scientists involved. The scientists that tricked both of them.

Both she and Accelerator shared about the same amount of blame, but how could she forgive him when she couldn't forgive herself. However whilst someday she may be able to forgive Accelerator, she will never forgive Gensei Kihara or Aleister Crawley. Thanks to them she will have a hard time trusting anyone with authority greater than the standard military, because they are the people that can and do get away with major crimes on a daily basis. Actually she should really be thanking them for opening up my eyes to that.

Mikoto's eyes closed as the man's rocking started sending her to sleep, and internally cursed the fact she was a baby before sleep took her.

* * *

1 Year Old.

She was finally 1 year old.

The 1 year old eldest daughter of Thomas and Ayumi Ackerman.

Sure it wasn't great but it was a hell of a lot better then being a newborn baby. Her senses were up to speed and it no longer felt like she was underwater. She didn't even have to breastfeed anymore.

Unfortunately she still had to suffer through the worst, most degrading and humiliating problem babies face.

Bowel problems.

The body of an infant/toddler is not physically capable of controlling themselves, and Mikoto's new body is no exception. Thus she is still forced to wear a diaper or at least this world's version of one. A cotton flannel held in place by safety pins. If that wasn't a harsh enough blow to her mentality's pride, getting her bum wiped was.

The words 'unbelievably mortifying' did not do it justice.

She'd already endured it an entire year, what was one more?

One thing she couldn't help was the fact she always cried when it happened. She'd realised very quickly that hiding when it happened, was the stupidest idea she'd ever had. Being stuck in a shit covered tea towel for hours, and then having her bum scrubbed was far worse than the usual quick wipe and change.

Currently she was watching her younger sister, Mikasa playing with some fabric. The sounds she made were really cute and funny. She wasn't really all that interested in the fabric, instead she preferred watching Mikasa play. It was a strange feeling considering she grew up as an only child, and didn't interact with the sisters as often as she should have.

She was a terrible sister to them and vowed to be a better one to Mikasa.

She smiled softly before it completely disappeared feeling her bowls contract. Moaning pitifully she crawled over to her 'mother' and made the most miserable face she could muster. It was one of the few time when her mind and body felt the same.

Of course her mother immediately took pity on her and 5 minutes she was back in the kitchen, being hugged by her 'mother'. The comfort made her feel slightly better after the embarrassment and humiliation.

"See that wasn't so bad was it?" her 'mother' tried soothing her. Mikoto stayed silent, letting the tears run down her face. Most times she just wanted to sit in the corner and wallow in despair. Her 'mother' had decided that wasn't appropriate and hugged her for a while instead.

Only when the tears stopped was she placed back with Mikasa. Of course she hadn't even noticed what happened, too enthralled with the fabric to pay attention to her surroundings. That was fine Mikoto would watch over, looking for any potential dangers and protecting her from them.

Just like a real big sister. Only she wasn't really Mikasa's sister was she?

She was Mikoto Misaka, daughter of Tabigake and Misuzu Misaka. 3rd Ranked Level 5 of Academy City. The Railgun.

Yet this family believed her to be one of them. Believed her to be their daughter Mikoto Ackerman. Elder twin sister of Mikasa Ackerman.

Her eyes shone with tears.

She didn't belong here, she was nothing but a fraud.

* * *

7 years old.

Mikoto was now physically capable of doing all the things a normal 7 year old could, meaning she had most of her freedom back. Even better she hadn't needed diapers since she was 2.

Within the 7 years she'd been alive in this world Mikoto had discovered a lot. For starters she takes after her father in appearance with the same sandy brown hair and eyes as opposed to Mikasa who takes after their mother. Every now and then they'd visit Shiganshina, a town enclosed inside 50 meter walls. Apparently there were giants that eat humans called titans on the other side. She'd also realised she wasn't going back to her original world any time soon.

It didn't make her feel any better though. One thing she was sure of was that Thomas and Ayumi Ackerman loved Mikoto Ackerman with all their hearts, and Mikoto hated it. Hated their unconditional love for who they thought she was. Hated never being able to tell them the truth. That she didn't belong.

In an attempt to somewhat make it up to them she did whatever any of them asked. It didn't matter who it was or what they were asking, she would do it without protest. Not once did she ever complain about something. It was the least she could do for replacing their family member.

Currently she was playing hide and seek outside with Mikasa. Their father was out hunting and their mother was in the kitchen washing dishes. She was at her limit. She couldn't take the kindness anymore. So she was going to leave. It was better this way. Such amazing people didn't deserve someone as horrible as her.

So as Mikasa counted she rushed back into the house and up into her and Mikasa's shared room. Opening the window she climbed out and down the log house. This way would buy her more time until her 'mother' realised she was really gone. The moment her feet hit the ground she ran as fast as her 7 year old body could manage. Stopping just past the treeline she turned back and stated at the house with tears in her eyes. Shaking her head she ran deeper into the forest, not looking back least she listen to her heart and return.


	2. Chapter 2

Mikoto wasn't sure how long it had been since she'd run, but it had started to rain. It was light but she'd still need to find shelter.

Continuing her trek she found a small hole under the roots of a tree. She was very grateful of her small body, as she only just managed to squeeze between the roots and into the hole.

Breathing a shaky sigh of relief she leaned back against the cold dirt and closed her eyes. A noise caused them to snap open and for her to shoot up, banging her head on the roots above.

Internally cursing she clutched her throbbing head, willing the pain to go away as she kept her ears open.

"Mikoto!"

She was right. She had heard her 'father' calling for her.

She squeezed her eyes shut and placed a hand over her mouth as he got nearer. Tears trickling down her cheeks as she held in a sob. Her heart was telling her to call out to him, to let him know she was alright. Except she had to keep reminding herself, he wasn't calling for her. He didn't want her. He wanted his daughter, Mikoto Ackerman. Not Mikoto Misaka.

When she'd lived in Academy City her head and heart were usually in sync. Usually agreed with each other. Yet since ending up in this world they very rarely agreed. Her heart wanted to go back home, back to the Ackermans. Back to the love and warmth. Her head wanted to get as far away from them as possible. She was a liar a fraud, she didn't deserve them.

So she stayed hidden even as thunder roared overhead.

"MIKOTO!"

He was almost right on top of her.

"PLEASE MIKOTO ANSWER ME!"

Lightning flashed and thunder roared. She knew he'd have to abandon his search. Being in a forest during a thunderstorm was incredibly dangerous, and they both knew it.

"MIKOTO IF YOU CAN HEAR ME...I DON'T KNOW WHY YOU RAN BUT, YOU'RE ALWAYS WELCOME HOME!"

Lightning flashed again and she could hear him leaving. Once she was sure he was gone she sobbed. She loved the Ackerman family, even more than the Misaka family. The Misaka family all lived completely separate lives. Tabigake Misaka traveled the world fixing other people's problems. Misuzu Misaka was studying at a college in Kanagawa. Whilst she was an Esper living in Academy city. So many times she'd wished they could be normal. As it were having all of them together in the same place was beyond rare. The Ackermans on the other had was the opposite. They were a real family, something she'd always dreamed of, something she'd given up on.

Life really was cruel sometimes.

Pulling herself out of the hole she, ignoring the scratches she received, she rushed off in search of shelter. It took a while but eventually she came across a cave. She could even see a fire and sitting near it was a boy. A teenager with dark brown, almost black hair. His dark blue eyes turned to her as she approached.

"Mind if I join you?"

He shrugged so she sat opposite him, letting the fire warm her up.

They sat in silence for a while before the boy spoke.

"You should get those cuts treated before they become infected. Name's Phantom by the way."

She glanced at the cuts littering her hands and arms, "I suppose you're right. I'm Railgun." Best to go with a name her 'family' wasn't familiar with.

The boy's eyes widened, "number 3?"

Her head shot up, "how do you...6?"

He nodded, "I've been looking for you, as well as the others. So far I've found Accelerator and Mental Out, or Accel and Misa Reiss as they're now known. What about you?"

"Mikoto Ackerman."

"What are you doing here? You of all people know the dangers of being in a forest during a thunderstorm."

"I ran."

"From your family?"

She frowned, "I'm not their daughter."

"I can't say I understand because I don't. You were the only level 5 that had a real family back in AC, but the others have accepted theirs. Accelerator has a brother here called Levi and Mental Out is close with 2 of her cousins. Even if given the opportunity I doubt they'd go back. What about you? Would you go back if you could? Would you leave the Ackerman family behind?"

She couldn't answer.

"This is just my opinion but you are both Mikoto Misaka and Mikoto Ackerman. We were reincarnated, that is irrefutable. Thus you now have 2 families. Misaka and Ackerman, you belong to both. You are their daughter whether you accept that or not."

"But they want Mikoto Ackerman-"

"You are Mikoto Ackerman, you just happen to be Mikoto Misaka as well."

"But I'm lying to them."

"You're not lying, you're just not telling them the whole truth. Whether you do is up to you, though I'd recommend discussing it with everyone first."

Mikoto smiled suddenly feeling better than she'd done in years, "thank's Phantom. I think I'll head home after the storm lets up."

He nodded, "by the way we're thinking about putting together a level 5 alliance type thing."

"Would that even work? I mean we all hated each other back in AC."

"True but none of us have our abilities, and 5th warned that if we wanted our families to live we would have to fight."

"That doesn't sound good."

"I know, in any case 1st, 5th and myself are in. What about you?"

"I'm in."

"Excellent now I just need to find 2nd, 4th and 7th."

"Good luck."

* * *

It stormed all night but let up in the early morning.

"Well I'm off home, what about you?"

"Shiganshina."

"I'll see you later then."

He nodded, "later Railgun."

Both took off in different directions. Mikoto was extremely grateful to Phantom for helping solve her identity crisis, and was now eager to get home. Back to her family.

Just the thought made her smile.

After a couple hours of running she skidded to a halt. She could've sword she heard...

"-oto!"

Her father.

She sprinted in the direction of his voice.

"Mikoto!"

Stopping she took a deep breath.

"DAAAAAAAAD!"

It was silent for a moment before she heard the squelching of boots on the muddy earth.

She saw him before he saw her and raced over to him. The moment she was close enough he scooped her into a hug and cried into her dirty hair.

"Thank goodness," he sobbed clutching her tightly to his chest. "Don't ever run off like that again. Promise."

"I promise," she murmured.

He pulled away and Mikoto saw just how stressed he was. He was paler than usual and there were dark bags under his eyes, his hair was also duller. But his eyes shone with happiness and relief, his kind smile made her want to cry as well.

"I-I'm sorry daddy."

"It's okay," he assured carrying her back home, "but this never happens again is that clear?"

"Yes dad."

"If you have a problem we want to help, so please don't run from us."

"Ok."

"You're still in trouble though."

Mikoto smiled, "I know."

* * *

It was mid morning when they arrived back home.

"Ready?" asked father standing outside the door.

"As I'll ever be."

He smiled and opened the door.

"We're home," he announced and Mikoto could see mother hugging Mikasa like she was going to disappear next. Their mother stood with tears running down her cheeks as she approached, Mikasa still in her arms.

"Mikoto?" she placed a hand on he head and Mikoto smiled slightly.

"Hi mum."

Mother sobbed as they all ended up in a family hug. Mikasa was even gripping her arm as tightly as she could, trying and failing to speak through her crying. Everyone was crying and it wasn't long before she was as well.

It was only when she sneezed that the hug ended and mother ordered her to take a bath.

"I wanna bath too," chirped Mikasa.

Which was how she found herself sitting next to Mikasa in a large metal bucket, these people called a bathtub. Mikasa was even clutching her hand underneath the water, and hadn't stopped staring at her.

Their mother was behind her, trying to get all the muck out of her hair.

She really hated bathing in this era. Of course Mikasa loved baths but she didn't know the luxury of the warm water tap. She screwed her eyes shut and grimaced as mother poured warm water over her head, rinsing out their idea of shampoo.

"This in your own fault Mikoto," said mother as if she didn't already know.

She was even forced to sit there as mother washed Mikasa's hair, until she was finally allowed out.

Mikasa only let go so they could wrap towels around themselves before grabbing her hand again.

"Alright you two go to your room and dry off, I'll be there in a few minutes with some antiseptic. Mikasa don't let your sister out of your sight understood."

"Understood."

Mikoto sweat-dropped when Mikasa glared at her, she doubted she even realised she was doing it.

Once they were in their room Mikoto quickly dried herself and pulled on some clothes. Watching from her bed as Mikasa tried to do the same. Unfortunately in her haste she was trying to pull her head through the shirt sleeve, and she'd already pulled her arm through the head space.

Mikoto couldn't help but chuckle as she floundered.

"Nee-chan!"

The distress in her voice quickly sobered her up and she moved to help. The moment the shirt was on properly Mikasa tackled her into a hug, tears running down her face.

"I thought you'd left again."

"Never," she promised manoeuvring them onto her bed.

"I'm sorry nee-chan," she sobbed into her shirt, "It was my fault, I m-made you p-play with me and...and."

Mikasa completely broke down.

"Mikasa, Mikasa look at me."

Mikasa shook her head.

"Please look at me."

Slowly Mikasa pulled away and tears gather in Mikoto's eyes at the sight of distraught her tear stained face.

"It wasn't you. I didn't leave because of you, so don't ever think that."

"Really?"

"Really."

"T-Then why did you leave?"

She turned to stare at the floor, "I felt like I didn't belong."

Mikasa clung to her arm, "b-but we love you nee-chan."

"I know, that's what hurt the most."

Unbeknownst to them both their parents were listening outside the door, and both were distraught.


	3. Chapter 3

2 years have passed since Mikoto met Etsu and since then her life has been relatively peaceful.

He came round in secret every so often with new information about the other level 5s.

Such as Accelerator, his brother and other two friends are now in the Scout Regiment.

Mikoto was shocked when she found out Accelerator actually had friends.

Attack Crash and his sister are also with the Scouts.

As is Dark Matter and his brother.

Meltdowner is working with the Interior Military Police which is apparently this worlds version of Hound Dog.

Mental Out is keeping an eye on her uncles illegitimate daughter.

And Phantom is attempting to train birds which he said would be more convenient that running around like an idiot.

Mikoto wasn't about to argue with him.

Both Mikoto and Mikasa were now 11 years old and their mother had decided to teach them some embroidery.

Mikoto already knew how to do this thanks to her lessons at Tokiwadai by politely listened to her mother as she explained how it was done.

Then when both she and her sister were given a needle some thread and a canvas Mikoto set to work sewing something.

If there was one thing she missed more then her friends and family from her old life it was Gekota.

So that was exactly what she was going to sew.

So she grabbed all the green thread she could see and quickly got stuck in.

Around an hour and a half later Mikasa was finished and was proudly showing her work to mom.

"Did I do good mommy?" Mikasa asked wanting to be praised.

"Wow this is amazing dear" complimented mom, "how are you doing Mikoto?"

Mikoto looked up from the pink flowers she was sewing into the picture.

"Oh, I'm nearly finished" she said with a light blush on her face.

Dad looked over her shoulder from where he was standing peeling potatoes.

His jaw dropped and he accidentally dropped the potato in shock.

"Hey dad you shouldn't waste food" Mikoto commented a few seconds later seeing as he'd made no move to pick it up.

He looked her in the eyes seemingly registering what she'd said before his eyes widened and he hurriedly picked the potato up before coughing awkwardly into his hand.

"M-Mikoto why don't you show your mother what you've done so far."

"But it's not finished" Mikoto replied confused.

"Mikoto I'd love to see how your embroidery's coming along" mom encouraged.

Mikoto looked slightly unsure before handing over the canvas.

Both her mother's and Mikasa's eyes widened and mouths dropped when they saw the perfect Gekota replica sewn onto the canvas.

"Wow" was all Mikasa could say.

Mikoto's blush deepened, "I-It's not that good" she stuttered.

"Mikoto this is amazing" mom complimented Mikasa nodding vigorously next to her.

Mikoto rubbed the back of her head bashfully as mom handed her canvas back to her.

"You know when you two have children of your own you'll be able to pass down this style of embroidery" Mikoto smiled slightly whilst Mikasa looked slightly confused.

"Mommy I don't understand, how can we have children?"

Knowing this was one of those awkward questions that parents didn't like to answer Mikoto decided to join in on the fun.

"Yeah mom how can we?" asked Mikoto with a cheeky smile on her face.

Mom wasn't fooled for a second as she glared slightly at Mikoto before expertly dodging the question, "umm, honey why don't you take this one."

Mikoto's grin grew as she turned towards dad who looked slightly startled.

"Yeah daddy, please" asked Mikasa innocently.

"Ummm, well I'm not really an expert on the subject but you know what that nice doctor Jaeger is due to pay us a visit today maybe you could talk to him" was dad's awkward reply.

"Awwwww" came Mikasa's disappointed response.

"But dad you managed to successfully create two children so you must have some idea" he looked at Mikoto horrified she wasn't letting this go.

"We can ask doctor Jaeger for for more details later but surely you can tell us the basics" Mikoto knew he could see the amusement in her eyes as he spluttered trying to come up with a response whilst mom chuckled behind her hand at his misfortune.

Luckily for him he was saved by a knock at the door which he quickly rushed to answer proclaiming it must be doctor Jaeger.

Anything to get out of the line of fire.

The moment he opened the door Mikoto knew something was wrong, when her father stumbled back and collapsed against the side of the counter having been stabbed in the stomach her eyes widened in fear and horror.

Mikoto froze when mom abruptly stood and attacked one of the men with her sewing scissors.

"Mikoto, Mikasa run" she screamed before an axe came down cutting through her shoulder killing her instantly.

Mikasa stood and backed away fearfully as Mikoto jumped to her feet and charged the man who'd just killed her mother.

"Mikasa go" she screamed adrenaline fueling her actions.

Managing to dodge the axe Mikoto quickly kicked the man in the balls as hard as she could.

Mikoto jumped back as the man crumpled to the floor holding his family jewels in one hand and the axe in the other glaring at her.

Another man with a knife then stepped passed him and tried to stab Mikoto which she dodged but ended up falling into the pathway of the axe as the man swung it catching her side.

Mikoto backed up slightly clutching her side, glaring darkly at the men.

"Nee-chan" Mikasa called fearfully unintentionally distracting Mikoto for that crucial second.

The man with the knife took that chance to stab it towards Mikoto's heart.

Mikoto tried ducking but wasn't fast enough, the knife stabbed through her left shoulder forcing her onto her back.

The room blurred as the man took the knife out.

Mikoto couldn't move, she could feel her blood pouring onto the floor as black spots encompassed her vision.

She could hear the men taking Mikasa as she screamed for mom, dad and her to save her.

Mikoto cursed her powerlessness as her vision faded and she fell unconscious.

* * *

 **Dreamscape**

When Mikoto opened her eyes she was standing next to a familiar phone box.

Looking around she realised that she was back in Academy City.

Mikoto looked around again, a foreboding feeling settling in her gut as she walked away from the phone box.

It was only when she kicked a familiar pair of broken goggles that her blood went cold.

An explosion nearby caused her to unwillingly turn around, enabling her to see black smoke rising into the sky.

Mikoto was unable to control her body as it sprinted towards the sound of the explosion before coming to an abrupt stop behind the railing of a very familiar container yard.

"No" she whispered shaking.

She could see Misaka 9982 severely injured sitting on the ground clutching something to her chest.

Accelerator was standing off to the side watching her uninterested.

Her body was frozen as the container lorry fell from the sky crushing Misaka 9982.

She was suddenly hit full force with feelings and emotions that she hadn't felt since this incident.

Her body once again moved on its own attacking Accelerator.

Of course it ended no differently then before.

The scene around her shifted until she was standing in the middle of a destroyed lab.

Her body turned to one of the remaining working monitors before stumbling towards it.

Mikoto felt her body reach out a hand to the monitor just as her sister blew up by having her blood flow reversed.

The scene changed again, there were multiple blood covered sisters surrounding her, staring at her, blaming her for their creating and ultimately their deaths.

Mikoto felt like she was drowning, falling deeper and deeper into the dark depths of despair.

But then a light appeared and pulled her back up as the scene changed again showing Touma defeating Accelerator.

It was then that she felt an emotion she hadn't felt in what seemed like forever.

Hope.

Touma had given both her and her sisters hope.

The scene changed again.

She could see her new parents dead in their home and three men taking Mikasa away as she reached out to her begging her to save her.

Her mind pictured all the disgusting and torturous things they could do to her.

At the end of it Mikoto was sure that all Mikasa would be feeling was despair.

The same despair Touma had saved her from.

But Mikasa didn't have a hero that would come save her from that despair.

The only thing Mikasa had was...

A sister.

A sister who'd be dammed if she let the same thing happen again.

This was her second chance.

A chance to succeed where she'd previously failed.

And there was no way in hell she was going to fail a second time.

But she was no hero, she couldn't enter a situation and save everyone involved, no there was only one way she would be able to save Mikasa and that way involved doing something Mikoto Misaka would never consider doing.

But then again she wasn't Mikoto Misaka anymore.

* * *

Mikoto's eyes snapped open reveling the blurry ceiling of the dining room.

She felt like she'd just been hit by and electrical charge but that wasn't going to stop her because now she knew exactly what to do.

Gritting her teeth Mikoto pushed herself into a sitting position before using the table to help her stand.

She held onto the edge of the table tightly as her body swayed before stumbling into her parents bedroom and pulling out the first aid kit from mom's chest of draws.

Quickly she opened it and pulled out the roll of bandages which she quickly unraveled and hastily tied around her abdomen before pulling the two ends tightly together and tying in a tight knot.

She then made her way to the bathroom and grabbed a small white towel which she pressed against her left shoulder to try and slow the bleeding.

The cut was in too awkward a place to do anything about and she didn't have time to seek professional help.

Walking somewhat steadily back into the dining room Mikoto glanced sadly at her dead mother and father before promising to save Mikasa.

She was just about to leave when something shiny caught her eye.

It was the knife dad had been using to peel potatoes.

Mikoto quickly grabbed it before exiting the house and started tracking the men that had kidnapped her sister.

They weren't difficult to track especially since dad had taught her a few tricks after she'd asked how he managed to find her.

Even now his words echoed in her mind.

 _See the grass it's pointing straight up but when I step on it it flattens this is why it's easy to know is someone's passed through here._

Following the trail Mikoto dashed into the forest.

 _In the forest you need to look for anything that doesn't look right._

 _Like what dad?_

 _Like a broken branch on a tree or the ground, that branch didn't break on its own._

Mikoto kept moving heeding her fathers advice until she came to a small cabin.

This had to be it.

Mikoto took a deep breath and steeled herself for what she was about to do before focusing on the cabins two windows.

She kept low to the ground as she saw one of the men looking out the window on her left.

Mikoto's eyes flashed in anger, it was the man who'd killed father.

She watched as the man with the axe came into view and the two seemed to be arguing about something.

This was her chance, she dropped the towel and charged towards the window on the right easily smashing through it.

She landed and abruptly turned not wasting a single moment and charged with the knife towards the man who killed father.

She stabbed him straight through the heart before either men could react.

"YOU BITCH!" the man who killed mother charged at her but Mikoto was faster, before he knew what had happened Mikoto had sliced through the ligaments behind his knees and he crashed to the ground.

Not wasting any time she stabbed the man in side of his throat and ripped the knife out.

She ignored him as he suffocated on his own blood and slowly walked towards Mikasa who was lying on the floor.

"N-Nee-chan" she chocked, tears in her eyes.

"Hey" Mikoto whispered back as she cut the ropes binding Mikasa's wrists.

Mikoto quickly put a hand on her shoulder ignoring the spike of pain from received from the motion.

"Mikasa where's the other one?" Mikoto whispered urgently, she had to kill him before passing out from blood loss otherwise Mikasa would never be free.

Mikasa didn't get the opportunity to answer as the third man walked into the room.

Mikoto's eyes widened as she tried to stand but the wound on her side flared forcing her back to her knees as the man kicked her in the stomach.

She dropped the knife and rolled across the room, she couldn't move from the excruciating pain as blood now flowed from the bandage she'd tied around her waist.

Her vision blurred as the man picked her up by the neck and started strangling her.

Despite the pain and blurriness she managed to grab his wrist with her right hand, her left arm now unresponsive, and tried to kick the man in the face.

He grabbed her foot with his right hand and continued to strangled her only with his left hand.

Through her blurry vision Mikoto could see Mikasa shaking as she held the knife in front of her.

Looking into her eyes Mikoto did her best to smile at her before her eyes closed and her right hand fell from the mans wrist.

Mikoto didn't know what happened afterwards because the next thing she knew she was hitting the ground.

Coughing, Mikoto kept her eye closed trying to will the dizziness away.

"N-Nee-chan" came a small voice from somewhere above her.

When Mikoto didn't respond her arm was grabbed and she was gently shaken.

"Nee-chan" Mikasa called again and Mikoto could feel her tears falling onto her face.

Mikoto groaned opening her eyes, meeting the worried grey eyes of her sister.

"Hey imouto, can you help me up" Mikasa nodded still crying and managed to pull Mikoto to her feet.

Looking to the man Mikoto could see he was lying on the ground with the knife having been stabbed through his back, right through his heart.

Mikoto turned away, "come on lets go."

Supported by Mikasa they made their way out of the cabin.

"Where nee-chan?" Mikasa asked.

"Doctor Jaegers" Mikoto answered as they stumbled back towards their house.

Mikoto did her best to keep going despite the black spots invading her vision and the coldness she was feeling.

All she could do was keep moving forwards and hope her body didn't give up on her.

She kept going even as her vision failed and the sounds around her disappeared.

She trusted her sister to take them to their destination, all she had to do was keep walking.

Yeah that was all.

One foot in front of the other.

Left.

Right.

Left.

Right.

* * *

When Mikoto became aware again she was warm and was lying on something soft.

The pain in her side and shoulder was numb and her body ached terribly but she was alive.

She opened her eyes giving them a moment to focus before blinking in confusion at the unfamiliar ceiling.

Looking around she could see the room was pretty much empty save for the bedside table and the curtains pulled over the window.

She also took note of the sunlight coming through the cracks in the curtains, the last time she was conscious the weather had been cloudy.

She raised her right arm and traced the bandages on her abdomen towards her shoulder.

Her eyes widened, _had they made it? was this doctor Jaeger's house?_

Mikasa!

Where was Mikasa?

She turned her head towards the door when she heard footsteps approaching.

There was some muffled conversation before the door opened and an unfamiliar woman entered.

Mikoto's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

 _Who is she?_

The woman was talking softly to someone Mikoto couldn't see.

It was only when that person walked slightly in front of the woman's skirt did relief wash over her and she smiled.

Mikasa's eyes immediately locked onto hers before widening.

"N-Nee-chan?" she whispered and the woman looked at her as well.

They both looked surprised before Mikasa rushed over to her and hugged her crying into her right shoulder.

"Hey imouto" Mikoto greeted he voice weak and slightly rough.

Mikasa just cried harder even as Mikoto freed her right arm from the confines of the blanket and rubbed her back.

Tears were also falling from Mikoto's eyes as she wrapped her arm fully around Mikasa's back and pulled her into a hug.

The woman was forgotten as the two siblings embraced silently promising to never leave the other ever again.

15 minutes of crying later and Mikasa had fallen asleep.

The woman had left sometime whilst they were hugging and Mikoto took a few seconds to enjoy having her sister back in her arms.

A few minutes later the woman reentered the room with a bowel and a blanket.

She smiled at Mikoto before placing the bowel of soup on the bedside table and placing the blanket over Mikasa.

"Hello Mikoto, I'm Carla Jaeger" Mikoto's eyes widened in realisation.

"Doctor Jaeger's wife" she muttered.

"Yes" Carla smiled.

That smiled soon disappeared, "Mikoto what's the last thing you remember?"

Mikoto's closed her eyes as she thought, "we left the kidnappers cabin and Mikasa was supporting me whilst we walked to doctor Jaeger's house."

Carla nodded, "Mikoto whilst you were unconscious your heart stopped, twice."

Mikoto sucked in a breath.

She knew that major blood loss could sometimes lead to cardiac arrest but to be told that it had happened to her not once but twice was slightly alarming.

As if sensing her emotions Mikasa snuggled further into Mikoto's side with a quiet mutter of "nee-chan" which Mikoto smiled at.

Sometimes Mikoto forgot they were supposed to be the same age.

"Doesn't matter" Mikoto whispered surprising Carla, "we're both alive and that's what counts."

Carla smiled at her words.

"Do you feel up to eating something?" Carla asked kindly.

"I'd love to except I'm currently being pinned down" Mikoto smiled warmly at Mikasa's sleeping form.

Carla chuckled.

"Hang on" Mikoto muttered and she used her right arm to try and push herself up.

She managed to lean against the headboard of the bed and Mikasa unconsciously moved so she was resting her head of Mikoto's lap and hugging her abdomen.

Mikoto smiled and stroked her hair before frowning as she noticed the dark circles under her eyes.

"She was really scared you wouldn't make it" Carla informed.

Mikoto nodded she couldn't imagine what Mikasa had gone through waiting for her to wake up.

He stomach took that moment to growl and Mikoto blushed slightly as Carla chuckled.

Carefully so as not to wake Mikasa, Mikoto leaned over towards the bedside table and grabbed the spoon from the bowel before slowly eating the soup.

"I'll leave you two alone for a bit" said Carla and Mikoto nodded, "Ok thanks."

Carla smiled and left the room.

Mikoto went back to eating her soup.

When she was about halfway finished a small whimper caught her attention and she turned towards her sisters sleeping form.

Adjusting her body she managed to pull her left arm out from under the covers but it felt very stiff and she couldn't move it very much.

She managed to place it on Mikasa's head and used her fingers to brush through her hair.

"Shhhhh, it's okay I'm here, I'm here" she whispered.

Mikasa soon calmed down much to Mikoto's relief and she went back to eating her soup which she quickly finished.

Mikoto leaned back against the headboard and closed her eyes.

She'd killed people and because of her weakness Mikasa had killed someone as well.

"Shit" she cursed.

She felt sick but she couldn't find it in her to regret what she did.

Those men killed her family for money.

MONEY!

She glared at the wall as she grit her teeth and clenched her right fist.

She hated people like that, people who thought a few coins and notes were more valuable then peoples lives.

Movement in her peripheral vision caused her to turn her head towards the door as it opened.

A boy entered and turned towards her, he then let out a very girly sounding squeak and darted back out.

Mikoto blinked in surprise before letting out an unladylike snort and did her best to muffle her laughter so as not to wake Mikasa.

The boy poked his head back inside and entered the room with a light blush and scowl on his face.

"It's not funny" he muttered as he got closer.

"Depends on your point of view but I thought it was funny, don't worry I won't tell anyone."

He humphed in an attempt to look tough and uncaring but Mikoto thought it just made him look cute.

"Eren Jaeger" he held out his right hand.

"Mikoto Ackerman" she shook his hand.

"I just wanted to say that I think you were right" Mikoto raised an eyebrow silently asking what he was talking about.

"Those animals in human skin needed to be put down I don't care what anyone else says" Eren's expression was filled with blood lust.

Mikoto's eyes softened and she looked towards Mikasa with a frown.

"Listen Eren different people place different levels of value on things" Mikoto could see she had Eren's attention as she spoke.

"For those men money had a higher value then a human life" Mikoto's eyes softened in sadness as she stroked Mikasa's head with her right hand.

"For me my family has more value then my own life that is why I went after them instead of getting help" she smiled.

"In that moment I didn't care about those men nor did I care about revenge and I most certainly didn't care about my own life, all I cared about was saving Mikasa from the life of despair that awaited her providing those men got their way" she turned back towards Eren and he could see the determination and sadness in her eyes.

"Whether they deserved to be killed or not is another story I don't know their circumstances after all but all I know is I wasn't strong enough to save Mikasa without killing them" it was a very sobering thought after all here she wasn't a level 5 electromaster who could just knock a group of people out without even trying.

Eren looked extremely confused, "what do you mean by 'their circumstances'?"

Mikoto leaned her head against the wall and looked to the ceiling in thought.

"For example one of those men might have a child who is severely ill but he can't afford to pay a doctor to treat them so that man helped kidnap Mikasa for someone who was going to pay them enough money to afford said doctor, thereby saving his child and by killing him and saving Mikasa not only have I condemned said child to death I have also taken their father away from them" she explained.

Eren stared at her is stunned silence he had no reply, he hadn't thought about it like that, all he'd seen were monsters that deserved to die.

"Remember Eren" Mikoto interrupted his thoughts "the world is not black and white."

"The world is not black and white" he whispered.

"Yep now if you don't mind I'm going to sleep some more before the Military Police decide they want to question me" said Mikoto as she moved back under the covers and wrapped her arm around Mikasa.

"Alright, I'll see you later" said Eren as he left the room no doubt thinking about what Mikoto had said.

"Yeah later" whispered Mikoto as she pulled Mikasa closer and closed her eyes quickly falling into a restful slumber.

* * *

 **Alright next chapter done.**

 **Review and let me know what you think.**

 **Till next time.**


	4. Chapter 4

A year had passed since the sisters moved in with the Jeagers and they were well into treatment for their separation anxiety. Their nightmares weren't as frequent either, and only occasionally did one of them crawl into the others bed for reassurance. One thing that didn't change was how protective they were of each other. Unsurprising really considering Mikasa had been kidnapped right in front of her and she'd nearly died twice.

Right now though they were on their way back from gathering firewood and Mikoto couldn't help but sigh as Eren whispered for them not to mention he was crying.

She couldn't help but smile when Mikasa suggested he get a checkup with his dad only for him to immediately refuse.

"What were you crying about Eren?" asked Hannes as they passed under the archway back into Shiganshina.

"Hannes you reek," stated Mikoto as the other Garrison soldiers laughed.

"You're drinking again," whispered Eren in disbelief.

"Wanna join us?" he asked cheekily.

"Hannes," glared Mikoto, a dark aura forming around her, "what did I say about asking a minor to drink?"

He flinched as he tried to splutter out a reply, even Eren and Mikasa took a few steps away from her.

Mikoto sighed, her aura dissipating causing Hannes to sigh in relief.

"Umm, aren't you supposed to be on duty?" asked Eren.

"Yeah, we're watching the gates today and started getting hungry and thirsty but it's not a big deal if we happen to drink something with a little alcohol in it."

"Actually it is" interrupted Mikoto, "drinking too much alcohol on a single occasion or over time can take a serious toll on you health. It affects brain functions which can change your mood and behaviour, making it harder to think clearly and it affects your coordination. For your heart it can cause an irregular heart beat, high blood pressure and potentially a stroke. Your liver can develop steatosis, alcoholic hepatitis, fibrosis or cirrhosis. Your pancreas will start producing a toxic substance that leads to inflammation and swelling of blood vessels, preventing proper digestion. Drinking alcohol also increases your chances of mouth, esophagus, throat and liver cancer as well as weakens your immune system increasing the chances of being attacked by diseases like pneumonia and tuberculosis."

Mikoto thoroughly enjoyed the looks of absolute horror on the soldiers faces.

"But hey, don't let me ruin your drinking time" she said with an innocent smile as the men started tipping their drinks away muttering how the devil child had done it again.

"You know, you're one scary kid" stated Hannes.

Mikoto grinned in return before stating they needed to get back.

"Bye guys, happy drinking" she called over her shoulder as Eren tried to stifle his laughs and Mikasa smiled.

* * *

"I can't believe they want to live like this, I mean we're living like animals" exclaimed Eren.

"Eren, I don't think you should join the Scouts" said Mikasa.

Eren turned to her in disbelief, "what, you think they're stupid too?"

"She didn't say that Eren."

The bell ringing distracted Eren from the impending argument as he exclaimed the Scout Regiment was back.

Grabbing Mikoto and Mikasa's hands he rushed towards the front gate.

* * *

Mikoto watched silently as a couple hundred soldiers defeatedly made their way through the streets.

Most of them were covered in bandages and all had a haunted look in their eyes.

Her heart went out to the women who asked where her son was only to get his arm back along with a speech of how he along with all the other soldiers who'd died had died for nothing.

Mikoto wanted to look for Accelerator, Kakine and Sogiita but she didn't know what they looked like in this world.

It was frustrating but she'd just have to believe they'd survived.

She continued watching as they walked through Shiganshina towards Ehrmich District where they'd report their recent failure the the higher ups.

Once they'd gone she heard a man disrespect the survey corps and quickly grabbed Eren and pulled him away before he could hit the man with a stick.

"Mikoto let go" struggled Eren as she pulled him down an alleyway.

"Listen Eren, I understand how you feel but hitting him would only get you and your parents in trouble."

Eren grit his teeth and look away.

"I mean if you're gonna hit him at least make sure he can't pin it on you."

"Nee-chan" Mikasa sighed whilst Eren grinned.

Movement in her peripheral vision caused her to grab Mikasa and pull her behind her whilst turning.

"Who's there?"

It was only when a figure stepped out covered head to toe in a black cloak did she relax although she felt Mikasa and Eren tense behind her.

"Phantom don't do that!"

He shrugged but she knew he was amused by their reactions.

"You know him" whispered Eren.

"Yeah he's a friend, speaking of were they there?"

Phantom nodded.

"That's good, I take it you're off then."

He nodded and waved before disappearing back down the alleyway he'd appeared from.

"Who was that?" demanded Eren.

"Phantom's a friend who stops by every now and then to check in with everyone."

"So he was checking up on you?"

"Sort of, he came to check up on our friends in the Scout Regiment."

Eren's eyes widened, "you have friends in the Scouts!"

"Sort of."

"That's amazing."

She could see Mikasa's confused expression as they walked and had a pretty good idea what she was thinking.

"We're back" called Eren.

"Welcome home" said Carla as they dumped their gathered sticks.

As Karla teased Eren, Mikoto watched Mikasa wash her hands.

When she turned round she could see the hurt in her eyes before she turned away.

Mikoto absentmindedly washed her hands as well feeling terrible for keeping secrets from Mikasa, whilst Carla placed food on the table.

"Dad are you heading out?" asked Eren as he wolfed down his food.

"Yeah I need to see someone in the inner walls" he answered packing his bag, "I'll be back in two or three days."

"Eren wants to join the Scouts" said Mikasa out of the blue.

Carla acted pretty much as Mikoto had expected and tried to convince him not to but she found Grisha's reaction strange.

First he asked why Eren wanted to go outside the walls and when Eren answered her got a strange look in his eyes before giving Eren his blessing in a strange sort of way.

Whilst that might be unusual it wasn't what peaked her interest.

It was when he promised to let Eren inside his super secret basement no one else was allowed to enter.

It begged the question, why now? Why only after Eren said he wanted to join the Scouts was he allowed into the basement?

It was suspicious and practically screamed Grisha had something to hide.

She'd have to ask when he got back.

"I wont allow it" said Carla after Grisha had left.

"You wont be joining something stupid like the Scout Regiment."

Mikoto winced, wrong choice of words.

"Stupid? people who are content living as livestock are more stupid" he shouted before running off.

Carla turned to Mikoto and Mikasa grabbing their shoulders, "Mikoto, Mikasa, he truly is a reckless boy so when trouble comes be sure to help each other out."

"Okay" they both nodded before running after him.

They slowed to a walk once they'd caught up with him and listened to him rant about how unfair Carla was being.

He only stopped when they saw Armin being beaten up and charged with both Mikoto and Mikasa flanking him.

The bullies ran the moment they caught sight of them.

"Hey, they ran away after seeing me" proclaimed Eren sounding impressed with himself.

"More like they ran away after seeing us" whispered Mikoto to Mikasa who smiled.

Armin tried to stand but winced in pain.

Eren offered to help him up but Armin said he could do it himself.

"So why were they beating you up this time?" asked Mikoto as they walked to the river.

"I told them that mankind eventually needed to go outside these walls and they beat me calling me a heretic" said Armin as they sat down.

"Dammit" cursed Eren, "we just want to go outside, why does everyone hate us?"

"Well it's been peaceful within the walls for the last hundred years and people leaving might accidentally let titans in so the king's government banned people from showing interest in the outside world" said Armin.

"That's stupid" muttered Mikoto.

"Yeah I mean we're the ones risking our lives, no one has the right to stop us" said Eren.

"You can't do it" proclaimed Mikasa before glaring at Mikoto, "no way."

"Mikasa, how dare you tell my parents, even Mikoto kept her mouth shut" growled Eren.

"I don't remember agreeing to help you" stated Mikasa still glaring at Mikoto, "and you're not joining either nee-chan."

"Busted" muttered Mikoto as both Armin and Eren stared at her in surprise.

"Mikoto you want to join the Scouts too" asked Eren excitedly.

Mikoto nodded.

"That's great" exclaimed Eren, "then you can fight alongside your other friends in the Scouts."

"Yeah" she muttered as Mikasa grabbed her arm and held on tight, eyes pleading for her to reconsider.

Mikoto turned away, not able to stare into her sisters eyes anymore.

"So how did your parents take it?" asked Armin.

"Well they weren't happy about it."

"No kidding, although I thought Grisha took it rather well" said Mikoto.

"Yeah" muttered Eren.

"I think people are crazy thinking these walls will protect us forever, even though they've been standing for a hundred years there's nothing to say they wont be broken into today..."

Golden lightning suddenly struck and the ground shook.

Mikoto stood up immediately and dashed towards the main gate closely followed by Mikasa, Armin and Eren.

Skidding to a halt she could see a hand on top of the wall.

Not long after a head appeared and stared over.

Mikoto could feel her heart in her throat as rubble rained down on the town and the titan disappeared.

"I-It made a h-hole in the wall" stuttered Armin who'd fallen to his knees.

"Up" said Mikoto as she grabbed the back of Armin's shirt and pulled him to his feet.

"We need to head to the docks, the Garrison should have ships waiting" said Mikoto taking control.

"My house is over there" muttered Eren weakly before dashing off.

"EREN" shouted Mikoto as she grabbed Mikasa's arm preventing her from running after him.

"Mikasa, Armin head to the docks I'll join you with Eren" said Mikoto before running towards the Jeager's house praying she wasn't too late.

"NEE-CHAN" shouted Mikasa running after her leaving Armin with his arm stretched out.

* * *

Mikoto was sprinting after Eren hoping Carla was alright and silently cursed when Mikasa appeared in her peripheral vision.

As they rounded the last bend her heart shattered.

The house had been crushed by a bolder and she could see Carla half crushed.

"MOM" Eren screamed.

"Mikoto, Mikasa grab that side" he demanded as he tried to lift the beam.

Grabbing it she and Mikasa lifted with all their strength but they could barely get the beam off the ground.

She could see the titans coming in and wished she still had her ability.

"Hurry up!"

"We know!"

"The titans are coming in, Eren take Mikasa and Mikoto and go!" ordered Carla.

"You're coming too!" shouted Eren.

"My legs have already been crushed by debris, I can't run even if I get out, do you understand?"

"I'LL CARRY YOU AND RUN" screamed Eren.

"WHY CAN'T YOU JUST LISTEN TO WHAT I SAY FOR ONCE?!"

Mikoto could feel the tears streaming down her face and the familiar despair of powerlessness crushing her heart.

There was nothing they could do.

"PLEASE JUST LISTEN TO ME, ONE LAST TIME, MIKOTO, MIKASA."

Mikoto knelt in front of Carla.

"T-Thank you for taking us in when we had n-nowhere to go, thank you for treating us like f-family, thank you for loving us like you own, I'm sorry I wasn't able to s-save you b-but I will never forget the kindness you showed us a-and I'll always r-remember you" Mikoto cried hugging Carla.

"G-Goodbye" she sobbed.

"OI MIKOTO WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

Mikasa stared at her, tears cascading down her face begging Mikoto for just a small glimmer of hope.

Mikoto stared directly into her eyes and shook her head.

Mikasa hugged Carla unable to say anything as she cried.

"OI STOP IT AND HELP ME!" screamed Eren.

"Eren" Mikoto tried.

"NO, WE CAN STILL SAVE HER!"

"We can't" she whispered glancing over to Hannes as he swung down.

"HANNES TAKE THE CHILDREN AND GO!" Carla demanded.

"Don't take me lightly Carla, I'll kill the titan and save all four of you" he smirked before running off.

"WAIT YOU CAN'T FIGHT IT!"

"HANNES COME BACK" screamed Mikoto.

Mikoto grit her teeth.

"Eren say goodbye, we have to go."

"NO, I'M NOT LEAVING WITHOUT HER!"

"EREN" shouted Mikoto just and Hannes came back and scooped up a screaming Eren before grabbing Mikasa.

"Mikoto follow me" he ordered before running away.

Mikoto obeyed following closely behind.

"Thank you" whispered Carla before shouting, "EREN, MIKOTO, MIKASA LIVE ON."

"STOP!" screamed Eren and Mikoto turned and watched as the titan ate Carla.

As she watched her mind flashed back to Accelerator murdering her sister.

It was the same.

The same outcome, the same despair.

She'd never forget, not who she was not who she is now but she'd come to realise.

This world is far cruller than her old one and for better or worse she will have to adapt to it.

Or once again fall into suicidal despair.


	5. Chapter 5

"Speaking"

 **"Japanese Speaking"**

* * *

Mikoto followed Hannes numbly.

As much as she wanted to sit in a corner and wallow in despair for a while she couldn't.

The danger wasn't over and she needed to be strong for Mikasa and Eren.

She was brought out of her thoughts when Eren punched Hannes.

"Eren, what?" asked Hannes breathlessly.

"We could've saved mom" he screamed.

"No we couldn't" said Mikoto firmly.

"YES WE COULD HAVE, IF YOU HADN'T GIVEN UP..."

"That's enough" said Hannes throwing Eren.

"Eren" whispered Mikasa as she struggled in Hannes grasp.

He released her as Mikoto walked towards Eren.

"Eren" he glared up at her with tears in his eyes, "that wooden beam weighed approximately 384 kg, my maximum lifting weight is 87 kg, Mikasa's is 81 and yours is 60, together we can theoretically lift 228 kg. Even if Hannes helped he can lift about 90, that makes 318. We could've increased our lifting strength by finding something to jack the beam but that would've taken time, even if Hannes had managed to kill that titan we were very quickly being surrounded and there wasn't anything of use in the immediate vicinity, by the time one of us had found something and returned with it our chances of all getting out alive were practically 0, and that's assuming the person who went to find something of use and the people waiting with Carla hadn't been eaten."

Mikoto took a deep breath trying to calm her nerves, "you can blame a lot for Carla's death, the titan that ate her, us for not being strong enough to get her out, that colossal titan for kicking the gate in, the Garrison for slacking off, heck you can even blame Carla for being inside the house but it doesn't change what happened."

"So please, let's go, Armin's waiting for us and Grisha's still alive somewhere" she whispered holding out her hand.

Eren stared at it, tears streaming down his face before grabbing it enabling Mikoto to pull him to his feet.

"Mikasa" she called extending her other hand.

Mikasa grabbed it tightly and together they walked to the docks.

* * *

Mikoto glanced around the ship looking for Armin as Hannes talked to the man letting people on board.

She spotted him rather quickly thanks to his bright blonde hair.

She made eye contact with him before turning her gaze towards the ground.

A few seconds later they were allowed onto the boat.

She lead them to where there was space and sat down, not once letting go of their hands.

They sat in silence as more people filtered onto the boat until it was full and the ship departed.

It was despairing listening to people's muttering's and watching people try and jump onto the already full ship.

She felt Mikasa's grip on her hand tighten and she tightened hers in return.

She tensed as she heard heavy footsteps running.

Mikoto's eyes widened as the gate was smashed through by a lone titan covered in armor.

She watched as said titan turned round and walked back into Shiganshina.

* * *

Getting off what Mikoto would describe the most depressing boat ride of her life, she followed Armin's grandfather towards the makeshift stands passing out blankets for the refugees.

Taking one she followed Armin's grandfather into a shelter, placed her blanket on the ground and sat on it.

Her friends sat next to her on their own blankets looking worse for wear.

Armin's grandfather excused himself to try and find some food.

Mikoto sighed, right now she just wanted to go to sleep and deal with all this tomorrow, but now she was in charge of 3 children.

"Hey" she muttered immediately gaining their attention.

"You all alright?"

"I guess so" whispered Armin.

Mikasa looked down and Mikoto pulled her into a one sided hug.

"Eren?"

He shrugged.

"Alright, lets just get some sleep and see how thing are tomorrow, okay?"

Armin and Mikasa nodded whilst Eren just laid down and turned his back to her.

"Goodnight" she whispered receiving replies from Mikasa and Armin.

* * *

Mikoto lay awake staring at the ceiling.

Despite how exhausted her body was her mind was working a million miles an hour.

Was this what Shokuhou warned them about?

Were these Colossal and Armored titans 2 of the 9 titan shifters?

But according to her Marley had 7 of the 9 shifters so where were the others?

Did they come alone? No the Colossal titan would've been seen miles before he reached the wall and the Armored titan looked like your typical power and defence type no way would he be swift enough to get past the hordes of titans between Wall Maria and the coast.

So that's at least 3 that have infiltrated the walls but there's a high probability of there being more.

She was brought out of her thoughts when the door creaked open.

Closing her eyes she feigned sleep as footsteps neared her location.

She watched through half lidded eyes as a man gently picked Eren up and left the shelter.

Quickly and quietly she got up and made her way to the door intent on giving the person kidnapping Eren a good beating.

"Grisha" she muttered pausing, his face now visible thanks to the moon.

She listened silently as Eren told him Carla was eaten and was surprised when the man she recognised as the Commander of the Scout Regiment fell to his knees.

Her eyebrows furrowed when Grisha told Eren to take revenge, revenge was never the answer, she'd seen many a good person get caught up in revenge and subsequently be torn apart from the inside.

"Grisha" she called out making her presence known.

All three turned towards her and Mikoto didn't like the look in Grisha's eyes.

She'd seen that look before, it was the look of a desperate man about to do something extreme.

"Mikoto" he whispered breathlessly.

"Where are you going?" she asked ignoring the tension in the air.

"The forest, don't follow us."

"Taking a child into a forest at night is not gutsy" an unknown voice interrupted.

Mikoto grinned, she'd know that way of speaking anywhere.

"Hey Gunha" she said as he blocked Grisha's path into the forest.

"Mikoto" he smirked back.

"Oi third rate, in trouble again" mocked another voice.

Mikoto glared at Accelerator, "of course not, what made you think that?"

"Now, now there's no need to fight, I'm sure there's a simple explanation for this" said another male looking expectantly at Grisha as he came out of the shadows.

"Teit" Mikoto inclined her head respectfully, this was their first meeting after all.

"Mikoto" he returned the gesture.

"P-Please you don't understand" stuttered Grisha desperately looking for an escape route, but the 4 former espers had him surrounded in a diamond formation.

Keith Shadis could only look on in shock, his friend was acting strange and was currently being boxed in by arguably his 3 strongest soldiers and a 12 year old who all seemed to know each other.

"Then explain it to us so that we do understand" said Teit simply.

"I-I can't" Grisha was on the verge of tears and Eren was starting to freak out, it was only natural considering he'd never seen his father in such a state before.

Mikoto frowned, at this rate they weren't going to get anywhere.

She wanted to trust Grisha but the way he was acting made her hesitate.

Dammit, she hated decisions like this.

Her heart said to let him go but her head said not to.

She didn't know what to choose time and time again she'd made the wrong choices.

Maybe she was overthinking this, when it came down to it she had to ask herself, did she trust Grisha.

The answer was 'yes'.

"Gunha, let him go" she said making sure her voice was firm.

Everyone seemed surprised but Grisha looked relieved even dare she say happy.

"You sure?" he asked.

"Yes."

He nodded and stepped aside.

Grisha muttered hurried 'thank yous' as he passed and led Eren into the forest.

"Are you sure letting them go was a wise decision" enquired Teit a few minutes after they left.

"No."

"Then why the fuck did you!" demanded Accel.

"Because I want to trust Grisha."

Accel scoffed, "you're too soft Railgun."

Mikoto shrugged, her eyes never leaving the tree line.

They watched the treeline silently waiting for them to come back when a flash of golden lightning appeared from within the forest.

"Oh no he didn't" muttered Mikoto angrily as she rushed into the forest closely followed by Accel, Gunha, Teit and Shadis.

She recognised that lightning.

The same thing happened before the Colossal titan showed up.

She skid to a stop upon finding Eren unconscious.

Looking around there was no sign of Grisha.

From what Shokuhou said if a mindless titan ingests a titan shifter's spinal fluid then the titan power is transferred over to the mindless titan rendering them human again and granting them the powers of the titan they acquired.

In other words, Grisha was a titan shifter and turned Eren into a mindless titan so he would eat him and inherit the powers of whichever titan he'd possessed.

"What the fuck just happened" growled Accel.

 **"Grisha was a titan shifter and just transferred his powers to Eren."** answered Mikoto.

"Did you know?" asked Teit.

"No" growled Mikoto picking Eren up and walking back towards the shelters.

Emerging from the treeline she turned to her 3 allies and a disgruntled Shadis.

"Well it was nice seeing you, but if you'll excuse me I'm going to sleep, goodnight."

"Night" Gunha and Teit called as she walked into the shelter.

She placed Eren back on his blanket before lying on top of her own and tried calming her mind.

It wasn't easy but eventually she managed to fall into a fitful sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

"Speaking"

 **"Japanese Speaking"**

* * *

"Nee-chan" called Mikasa trying to rouse her sister from the depths of sleep.

"Nee-chan" she tried again shaking her for good measure.

Armin's grandfather said to leave her and Eren alone when they woke up but now it was passed noon and they were still sleeping.

"5 more minutes" came a groggy reply.

"Come on nee-chan get up" Mikasa shook her harder.

Finally she opened her eyes.

"Mikasa?"

Mikasa's eyebrows furrowed in concern.

Mikoto didn't look good, her face was pale, her eyes were red with dark bags under them.

"Nee-chan are you alright?"

Mikoto closed her eyes and rubbed her head tiredly, "I'm fine, just tired."

She looked around immediately noticing Eren, "where's Armin and gramps?"

"Getting food and water" she watched Mikoto becoming more concerned when she didn't seem to have any energy.

"Are you sure you're all right nee-chan?"

"Mnnnn, have you seen Phantom around?"

Mikasa frowned at her obvious subject change, "Phantom? No I haven't."

Mikoto was a lot more alert hearing that, "strange, with an incident like this I expected him to be here last night wanting details but he's still not here, something else must of happened" she muttered.

Mikoto's stomach took the opportunity to growl causing her to blush and Mikasa to giggle.

"Well first thing's first, lets get some food" said Mikoto standing up and stretching before picking her blanket up and folding it.

"Come on Eren wake up" she called startling Eren awake.

He got up somewhat groggily, "huh wha?"

"Come on, they're handing out ration's" informed Mikasa.

Eren nodded and tucked Grisha's key under his shirt.

"Here used to be the food reserves, now the people who came by ships have gathered here."

Mikoto whistled lowly at the amount of people as she looked around, her eye catching sight of a small blond girl about their age she'd seen last night sleeping with two other guys being given a small loaf of bread.

She sighed when a fight broke out, it was to be expected in these circumstances but it wasn't half hard to watch people fight over who gets food first.

"We're gonna struggle to survive like this" she muttered getting a hum of agreement from Mikasa.

"Eren, Mikoto, Mikasa" called Armin as he ran over.

"Armin" Mikoto greeted.

"Look grandpa managed to get these for us" he handed them a small loaf of bread each.

"Thanks" said Mikoto and Mikasa whilst Eren just stared at the bread as though it were a foreign object.

Mikoto heard a man tsk behind Armin and narrowed her eyes.

"What's his problem" growled Eren.

"There's probably not enough food to go around, this is an entire days worth" murmured Armin.

"There are just too many refugees and not enough food" murmured Mikoto taking a bite of the bread.

Armin nodded, "there's always been a food shortage and you know how people always look down on those from the outskirts."

Mikoto nodded as she over heard one of the Garrison soldiers complain about giving food to outsiders.

That was fine she could deal with that, it was what he said afterwords that made her blood boil.

"I mean the titans broke into the wall anyway they should've eaten more of them."

"Hold this" Mikoto shoved her bread into a shocked Mikasa's arms before marching over to the man.

"What do you want brat?" growled the idiot man who had no idea what was coming.

Mikoto grabbed the front of his shirt pulling him to her eye level before punching him full strength in the face making sure to break his nose.

"YOU LITTLE SHIT" shouted his friend who was soon trying not to throw up when she punched him in the stomach.

Knowing she had the attention of everyone surrounding her she shouted, "THAT'S WHAT YOU GET FOR SAYING WE DESERVED TO BE EATEN BY TITANS!" before turning around and leaving them at the mercy of the other refugees, a satisfied smile plastered on her face.

"Thank you" she said taking her bread back from Mikasa, ignoring the bewildered disbelief on their faces.

"Remind me never to piss you off" murmured Armin as he stared at the 2 Garrison members being pounded into the ground by the angry mob.

Mikoto walked under the archway and looked to her right as a familiar cloaked figure approached.

"Phantom, where have you been?"

He held up his hand showing all 5 fingers.

Mikoto's eyes widened, "what happened?"

He then walked away motioning for her to follow.

"I'll be back in a minute" she murmured to her friends before walking over to where Phantom was waiting.

 **"Yesterday evening whilst the Reiss family was praying in the underground cavern underneath their chapel a man interrupted them, that man turned into a titan and ate the Founding titan's shifter, Frieda Reiss. He then proceeded to murder the rest of the Reiss family."**

 **"T-Then is Shokuhou..."**

Phantom shook his head, **"two members of the Reiss family survived Rod Reiss and Misa Reiss, I helped her escape but we lost the location of the Founding titan's power."**

Mikoto thought for a moment, what happened last night suddenly made a lot more sense.

 **"Last night I found out the man who took myself and Mikasa in when our parents were murdered was a titan shifter, holding the powers of the Attack titan."**

Mikoto knew Phantom had realised where she was going with this but let her continue.

 **"He led his son Eren into the forest where I believe he transferred his titan's power to him, if Grisha was the one to kill Frieda and inherit the Founding titan's power, which I think is extremely likely then that would mean Eren is in possession of both the Attack titan and Founding titan's powers."**

They both glanced over to where Eren and Armin were having an argument.

 **"But he's not a member of the Reiss family, he can't use the Founding titan's powers"** said Phantom.

 **"Maybe that was the point, it's as you said he's not a member of the Reiss family so he wont be affected by the 1st king's will. If he can find a way of utilising the Founding titan's powers despite not being a member of the Royal Family then he could potentially end the war."**

They stared at each other for a long moment.

 **"We're getting ahead of ourselves, first he has to discover his ability, then we'll have to somehow convince everyone he worth having around"** said Mikoto as Phantom nodded before changing the subject.

 **"How many infiltrators from Marley?"**

 **"I saw 2, the Colossal titan and Armored titan but I suspect at least 3 entered the walls, probably more. The Colossal titan was 60 meters tall but he was really slow, approximately 7 seconds passed between the time he appeared and the gate was kicked in."**

Phantom nodded his understanding.

 **"The Armored titan was 15 meters tall covered in armor, I couldn't identify a material from where I was but it was hard enough for him to smash through the 2nd gate without a problem. He had a broad build like Gunha but was heavy on his feet."**

 **"Not a speed type then"** clarified Phantom.

 **"Definitely not, which is why I suspect there's at least 3, because they'd never have gotten through the hoard of titans between the wall and the coast with the Armored titan and we would've spotted the Colossal titan miles away."**

Phantom nodded accepting her reasoning, **"then I shall inform the others of this recent development."**

Mikoto nodded and Phantom ran off, how he always knew where everyone was was a mystery to her.

She blinked when she saw Mikasa shoving the entire loaf of bread into Eren's mouth.

"What did I miss?" she asked Armin who shrugged.

Mikoto took it as a sign she was better off not knowing.

* * *

 **1\. Accelerator: Accel Ackerman (Levi Ackerman's older brother): Scout Regiment**

 **2\. Dark Matter: Teitoku Kakine - Teit Zacharius (Mike Zacharius's younger brother): Scout Regiment**

 **3\. Railgun: Mikoto Misaka - Mikoto Ackerman (Mikasa Ackerman's older sister): Future Scout Regiment**

 **4\. Meltdowner: Shizuri Mugino - Zuri (Orphan): Interior Military Police**

 **5\. Mental Out: Misaki Shokuhou - Misa Reiss (Uri Reiss's daughter)**

 **6\. Phantom: Etsu** **Aihana** **\- Phantom (Orphan): Esper's Messenger**

 **7\. Attack Crash: Gunha Sogiita - Gunha Hanji (Zoe Hanji's younger brother): Scout Regiment**

 **Hope this clarifies things.**


	7. Chapter 7

It's been 1 year since the fall of Wall Maria and the situation with the refugees is slowly getting worse.

The day after they'd arrived all refugees were sent to the fields to cultivate land and secure food but even then the food shortage didn't improve.

There were just too many refugees and not enough land.

Although Mikoto suspected the people in the interior had more than enough food to survive, they were just unwilling to give them any.

One day the Central Government decided to launch a campaign to retake Wall Maria using refugees.

They gathered all able bodied men and women and sent them back towards Shiganshina without any viable means of killing a titan.

Only the young and the weak were left behind.

It didn't take a genius to figure out what was really happening.

The government had ordered a mass genocide.

Out of the 250,000 people sent out, only about 100 deeply traumatised refugees managed to return.

Armin's grandfather was not among them.

Mikoto listened to Armin cry whilst hugging his grandfather's hat.

This was why she hated people with political power.

They only thought of themselves and how to further their own goals, not of all the lives they trample over doing it.

"The titans are to blame" said Eren suddenly.

Mikoto frowned, that wasn't entirely right.

Technically the titan's weren't at all to blame considering all they can do is instinctively eat humans in the hopes they'll eat a titan shifter and revert back to their human form.

"Don't place the whole blame on the mindless human eating creatures, it was after all the government that ordered this mass genocide" chided Mikoto gently.

"I guess" murmured Eren looking away.

That was another problem, Eren seemed blame everything on the titan's and had decided he was going to wipe them all off the face of the earth.

"If only we could kill the titan's, then we'd regain our place in the world. Armin next year I'm going to apply for military training, I'll become strong enough to fight them" his determination evident.

"Me too" mumbled Armin before saying it louder.

Mikasa sighed before saying she'd also join.

"Goes without saying" said Mikoto.

"Alright we'll all join" said Eren receiving nods from his 3 friends.

* * *

1 year later found all 4 standing to attention in the cadets uniform.

Normally the enrolment age was 16 but due to fall of Shiganshina it was now 13.

"ALL RIGHT MAGGOTS YOU ARE NOW OFFICIALLY MEMBERS OF THE 104 TRAINING UNIT, UNFORTUNATELY FOR YOU I, KEITH SHADIS WILL BE IN CHARGE. I'M NOT HERE TO GIVE YOU A WARM WELCOME, RIGHT NOW YOU'RE LIVESTOCK WAITING TO BE EATEN BY TITANS. FOR THE NEXT THREE YEARS I'LL TRAIN YOU USELESS SHITS, I'LL TEACH YOU HOW TO FIGHT TITANS SO WHEN YOU FACE A TITAN IN THREE YEARS, WILL YOU STILL BE FOOD? OR WILL YOU BE A WALL TO PROTECT OUR WALLS? OR MAYBE A CHAMPION THAT WILL DESTROY THE TITANS? THE CHOICE LIES IN YOUR HANDS."

 _Huh, Shadis had a job change_ thought Mikoto immediately recognising him as the former commander of the Scouts.

She watched neutrally as he interrogated each cadet individually and wasn't surprised when he skipped her knowing he was trying to weed out the weak.

Although she was amused by Sasha Blouse's antics.

Her reaction to being given the option to run until the sun set was nothing compared to the horror on her face when given the option of losing meal privileges for a week.

What a way to make a first impression.

* * *

After they were all dismissed Mikoto chose to walk around for a bit knowing they had about an hour before dinner.

She made small talk with Mikasa who'd decided to follow her while Eren and Armin made friends.

They'd fallen into a comfortable silence but Mikoto could tell Mikasa wanted to say something.

"You look like you have something to say."

Mikasa looked down, "you're keeping secrets nee-chan" she whispered.

Mikoto stopped and stared at the sky, she knew it wasn't meant as such but it felt like an accusation.

"Yes."

"Why wont you tell me?"

Mikoto silently cursed, what was she supposed to say? She couldn't tell her the truth but she didn't want to lie either.

"Is it because you don't trust me?"

Mikoto spun around, "of course not, I trust you with my life!"

"Then why?"

Mikoto sighed and quickly glanced around making sure no one else was in hearing range, the others were gonna kill her for this.

"Ok" she whispered turning to Mikasa her hand covering her mouth to prevent sound from traveling.

"I have two main secrets I can't tell you about, the first is that I know information the government is trying to keep secret if anyone found out I would be killed, second is my relationship with people I shouldn't know, the reason I can't tell you how we know each other is because if people knew we were in contact we could all be killed, one of us for treason the rest of us for knowing government secrets, just know there are 7 of us in total including Phantom and I promise you someday I will tell you the truth about me."

"Does knowing these people have anything to do with why you ran away?"

Mikoto nodded, not all that surprised she hadn't let that go.

"You promise you'll tell me someday."

Mikoto smiled, "I promise, but until then don't tell anyone ever got it."

Mikasa nodded, silently promising to never speak a word of this to anyone ever, she'd rather die than put a target on her beloved sisters back.

"Good" said Mikoto just as the bell rang.

"Finally I'm starving, come on Mikasa lets go."

Mikasa nodded following behind her, silently wondering what information she knew that the government would kill her for to keep quiet.

* * *

Dinner was fairly boring, Eren was being surrounded by people wanting to know more about the Colossal and Armored titans whilst Mikoto sat in a corner with Mikasa and Armin.

The only interesting thing that happened was when Eren and Jean almost started fighting.

Luckily the bell rang for curfew before they could start anything and she and Mikasa followed Eren out.

Although Mikasa was held up for a few seconds.

When Mikoto asked what Jean wanted Mikasa said he complemented her hair.

She then started lecturing Eren on picking a fight.

"Oh give me a break" complained Eren.

"You're always so impulsive when you get emotional."

"Not this again."

"Yeah Eren you should learn to control your temper."

Both stared at Mikoto blankly.

"Speak for yourself Mikoto, anyway Mikasa shouldn't you be more concerned about your hair it's long enough to get tangled during 3D maneuver gear training."

"Fine I'll cut it, how long do you think it should be?"

"How about just above your shoulders" suggested Mikoto.

Mikasa nodded.

* * *

The next morning was the aptitude test.

The reason this test had a pretty big fail rate is because humans are so used to having their feet on a solid surface that once that surface is taken away they completely lose their balance, not to mention this was a test so people were naturally tense.

Mikoto wasn't worried, she was used to maneuvering 3 dimensionally as an esper and the only difference here was she didn't have her ability so she'd have to rely on the gear for propulsion but balancing was still the same.

It wasn't long until her name was called and she casually walked over to the apparatus.

Once strapped in she was hoisted up and balanced perfectly.

Shadis need only glance before passing her.

She was immediately lowered and walked over to the group of successful applicants before turning and watching the others try and balance.

Armin passed despite wobbling a lot.

Mikasa passed easily.

Eren, well...

He was upside down.

It was strange, she'd watched multiple people fail but not one of them had ended up upside down.

She watched as he was lowered to the ground.

He looked distraught as he brokenly made his way over to the failed applicants.

Mikoto turned her attention back to the people balancing on the apparatus.

Something wasn't right with Eren's performance and she was determined to find out what.

Her eyes locked onto a boy who was struggling to stay upright before his balance deserted him and he suddenly fell forward.

Mikoto's eyes narrowed slightly as his gear locked preventing his head from smashing into the ground.

Not a second later he was failed.

Mikoto's frown deepened, there was no mistaking his gear locked so why didn't Eren's?

The only reason she could think of was it was broken, but the gears were all checked and tested beforehand to prevent such a thing.

So either the multiple people who check thousands of gears every year messed up or Eren's gear was sabotaged.

She was leaning towards the latter.

The reason was these gears were meticulously checked by multiple different people so if one of them missed something then someone else would catch it.

The question was, who would sabotage Eren's gear and why?

She glanced around, it would have to be someone with access to the supply room.

That ruled out all the cadets because they were only allowed in there a few hours ago and you don't sabotage someone's gear surrounded by loads of people.

That meant one of the instructors, which lead to the question why Eren in particular?

What connection would they have to him?

Her eyes landed on Shadis and she remembered him collapsing to his knees when finding out about Carla's death.

Was that it?

Did he regret Carla's death so decided to try and save her son?

It made sense especially considering he'd heard Grisha tell Eren to take revenge for his mother meaning he knew Eren would definitely join the Scouts.

Mikoto sighed, she was going to have to confront him about it.

* * *

After the test Mikoto excused herself, she desperately needed to talk to Shadis.

Walking to his office she tried to think of what to say, after all she couldn't just come out and accuse the Commander of the Trainee Corps of sabotage.

Sighing she decided to just wing it and knocked on his door.

"Come in."

Confidently walking in she closed the door behind her and taking a deep breath walked up to his desk and saluted.

"Ackerman, what is it?" he asked gruffly.

"Eren Jeager's gear was broken."

If Shadis was distracted before he wasn't now.

"What makes you so sure?"

"I watched the other cadets that failed, when they lost their balance a locking mechanism prevented them from ending up upside down. Now the Scout Regiment need to know their gears inside and out after all the last thing they want is for it to break in the middle of titan territory. As the former Commander of the Scouts you should've known it was broken the moment you saw Eren upside down, so why didn't you say anything?"

Mikoto mentally patted herself on the back, she'd managed to trap Shadis between a rock and a hard place.

Because no matter what he said, he could not deny he knew Eren's gear was faulty and still failed him.

Mikoto felt the tension in the room increase tenfold but didn't look away, he needed to know she wouldn't back down.

After what seemed like an eternity he let out a tired sigh.

"I know you're trying to protect him but you don't have the right to decide what he does with his life" Mikoto smiled softly, "give him a chance, he may just surprise you."

Mikoto saluted and turned to leave the room.

"Ackerman."

She turned.

"What really happened to Grisha that night?"

Mikoto tensed, no way in hell could she tell him the truth but she couldn't lie to save her life.

"Grisha" she hesitated for a moment before sighing, "Grisha committed suicide that's all I can say."

Shadis nodded and Mikoto took that as permission to leave.

Those who failed the aptitude test today would get a retry tomorrow, if Eren's gear was still broken she'd call Shadis out on it, if not it was up to Eren to balance properly.

With a satisfied smile she made her way to the mess hall for dinner.

* * *

The next morning Mikoto watched Eren's second attempt.

She was slightly nervous but had every confidence in Eren's ability provided Shadis had fixed or replaced his gear.

He was raised slowly until at the appropriate height.

Mikoto smiled, he was balancing pretty well without any major issues.

He also looked incredibly surprised.

"Congratulations cadet, you pass."

One of the biggest smiles she'd ever seen lit Eren's face as people cheered.

Catching Shadis eye he discreetly nodded to her before turning back to the cadets.

She watched Armin congratulate Eren on passing and even Mikasa congratulated him despite being against joining the cadets in the first place.

Mikoto's smiled soon disappeared.

3 years.

That's how long they had left until the peaceful days ended.

The calm before the storm as it were.

Because once these 3 years were over everything was going to change.


	8. Chapter 8

Mikoto yawned as she walked out the girls cabin on her first official day as a soldier.

It was around 5:30am, and she'd decided to do some exercise before everyone needed to be in the courtyard.

Stretching, she started jogging around the track Sasha had been forced to run.

She quickly turned her light jog into a mild run.

After running 20 laps she saw Phantom without his cloak slowly jogging around the same track.

Soon she was running next to him.

 **"Good morning"** she greeted.

 **"Morning."**

 **"So to what do I owe this visit?"**

 **"A request from 5th, her cousin was forced to join your group of cadets and she wants to know if you can keep an eye on her now that she's unable to."**

 **"Sure, what's her name?"**

 **"Historia Reiss but she's using the alias Krista Lenz."**

Mikoto thought back to Shadis interrogation 2 days ago where everyone except a select few had introduced themselves.

 **"Ah, small blond girl, bright blue eyes."**

Phantom nodded.

 **"Tell 5th I can keep an eye on her for the next 3 years but I can't promise anything once I join the Scouts."**

Phantom nodded before disappearing into the shadows as Mikoto went back to her work out.

Half an hour later she walked back into the cabin to grab her uniform before heading to the girls showers.

* * *

"Morning" Mikoto greeted Mikasa, Eren and Armin as she sat down with her food.

"Morning" they greeted back.

"Where were you this morning nee-chan?"

"Exercising."

"But training hasn't started yet" said Armin.

"Actually physical exercise triggers the release of endorphin's in the brain" seeing their confusion she elaborated, "endorphin's are a natural drug that make you feel more energetic, more awake and happier" smiled Mikoto.

"How do you know all this?" asked Eren.

Mikoto shrugged and continued eating leaving Eren to grumble about how she never gave straight answers.

* * *

At exactly 7:00am all the cadets were standing to attention in the courtyard, where they were quickly split into groups.

Mikoto was in group 1 with Mikasa and Armin as their surnames ended in A.

Whilst Eren was in group 5.

Mikoto made a mental note that Historia was in group 6 before following her instructor towards the supply room to collect their gears.

They then spent the next 2 hours learning the components of their gear and what they were for.

3 hours on equipment maintenance, 3DMG, muskets, cannons, etc.

1 hour for lunch.

A 2 hour lesson on horse riding.

Another 2 hour lecture on titans.

And finally a 2 hour run.

leaving 1 hour for dinner.

And another until curfew.

* * *

"Today was exhausting" said Eren as he sat down with his food.

"I know and it's only the beginning" whispered Armin.

"It wasn't that bad" mumbled Mikoto as she discreetly glanced around the room looking for a certain blond.

She spotted her talking to a tall brunette.

She'd confront her when she left.

After finishing she said she was going to walk around for a bit, when Mikasa offered to join her she refused saying she wanted to be alone for a bit.

Walking away from the cafeteria she stopped in the shadows and waited for her target.

15 minutes later she left the cafeteria with the same brunette she was talking to.

"Excuse me" Mikoto called walking over to them.

They both turned.

Krista looked surprised before offering her a friendly smile that Mikoto could immediately tell was fake.

The brunette on the other had stared suspiciously at her with a guarded expression.

"You're Krista Lenz and I don't know your name" she turned to the brunette.

"Ymir."

Although her expression remained the same Mikoto was extremely surprised, from Misa's information 'Ymir' was the name of the original titan shifter and when she died her power was split into 9 successors, the current titan shifters.

The only people within the walls who knew this information was Rod Reiss and the former espers, also 'Ymir' was far from a common name so whilst it's possible she was named that on a whim it was highly unlikely.

So did that mean she was one of the infiltrators from Marley, but she was sure they hated Ymir Fritz and would kill any Eldian named after her.

Something wasn't adding up and she'd definitely need to inform the others of this.

Nodding in acknowledgment she introduced herself and asked to speak to Krista privately.

She looked nervous but agreed and followed Mikoto into the middle of the courtyard guaranteeing no one could eavesdrop on their conversation.

"Krista Lenz, or would you prefer Historia Reiss?"

Krista went white, "I-I d-don't know w-what your t-talking a-about" she stuttered.

Mikoto smiled, "relax, I already know you're Rod Reiss's illegitimate daughter and I assure you no one here other than me knows."

Krista lowered her head, "then I assume you're here to make sure I join the Scouts."

Mikoto snorted, "please joining the cadets was my own choice and had nothing to do with you, the reason I'm confronting you is because one of your family members who also happens to be my friend, cares about you and asked me to look out for you because she no longer can."

Krista looked surprised at the knowledge somebody cares about her as a small smile appeared on her face.

"Also" her somber tone immediately grabbed Krista's attention causing her smiled to disappear.

"I feel obligated to tell you that including you there are only 3 members of the Reiss family still alive."

"W-What?" she choked.

"Your father, Rod Reiss and cousin, Misa Reiss are your only surviving family."

"W-What happened?"

"They were murdered, that's all I can say."

Krista looked sad before staring back at Mikoto, "does that mean you're my cousin's friend?"

Mikoto smiled, "Yep, but don't tell anyone. If people knew we were in contact then we'd both be killed."

Krista nodded determinedly.

"Good, also if you wanna make real friends then be yourself and someone will like who you are."

Krista looked up at her in wonder before nodding.

"Well it was nice talking to you but I'm gonna get some sleep, night Krista."

"Good night" called Krista as Mikoto disappeared from view.


	9. Chapter 9

_Mikoto Ackerman, outstanding cadet, top marks in everything. I dare say her skills could rival both Accel and Levi._ thought Shadis as he watched Mikoto kill a few more fake titans.

* * *

Mikoto frowned after finishing the course. Killing fake titans was all well and good but according to Gunha it was completely different than killing real ones. Sure the weak spot might be the same but killing real titans required spatial awareness that most people here didn't have. Also there was no guarantee they'd be in a forest and they hadn't done much on formations either. They'd pretty much been assigned teams and told to kill the fake titans set up around Trost.

"What's wrong nee-chan?" asked Mikasa having just finished the course.

"Just thinking. These peaceful days will be over soon." she murmured.

Mikasa hummed her agreement.

"Listen Mikasa, when we join the Scouts some previously unknown information pertaining Eren will be revealed. When that happens I need you to trust me, I promise we won't let them kill him."

Mikoto smiled slightly at Mikasa's worry and confusion.

"Remember, this conversation never happened."

Mikasa nodded sadly.

"Hey cheer up," she ruffled Mikasa's hair much to her displeasure, "I still have to give this stupid graduation speech tomorrow."

Mikoto pouted at Mikasa's silent laughter.

* * *

Mikoto glared at Jean throughout dinner. 3 years and he still hadn't gotten over his crush on Mikasa. She'd made it very clear she didn't approve of him or his attitude. Any attempt he'd make to ask Mikasa out she'd met with threats of castration and death. Mainly castration.

Mikasa was pretty much oblivious to his advances. Eren just though she hated him because of his attitude. Only Armin and anyone else with eyes and more than a few brain cells saw the truth.

Dating Mikasa required Mikoto's approval and if you didn't have it you're better off giving up.

Still unlike Eren she'd never mocked him or his ambitions in the Military Police. She didn't approve of them but left him alone in that regards.

Thankfully dinner was fight free and they went to bed knowing tomorrow was graduation.

* * *

Mikoto stood saluting the instructors. Next to her was Mikasa, Reiner, Bertholdt, Annie, Eren, Jean, Marco, Connie and Sasha.

"CONGRADULATIONS CADETS, YOU HAVE OFFICIALLY GRADUATED. FROM NOW ON YOU HAVE THREE OPTIONS OPEN TO YOU. THE GARRISON WHO'S JOB IS TO FORTIFY THE WALLS. THE SCOUTING REGIMENT WHO RIDE INTO ENEMY TERRITORY AND TAKE BACK WHAT WAS OURS. THE MILITARY POLICE WHO MAINTAIN LAW AND ORDER UNDER HIS MAJESTY, THE KING. THOSE ELIGIBLE FOR THE MILITARY POLICE ARE STANDING UP FRONT TAKE HEED, THESE ARE THE TOP OF YOUR CLASS. NOW AS PER TRADITION YOUR TOP RANKING CADET WILL NOW GIVE A SPEECH."

"Good luck nee-chan," whispered Mikasa as Mikoto made her way up the steps.

"Someone once told me there is a big difference between doing what is right and what is easy. Though personally I think fighting titans will be easier than dealing with the Military Police." Mikoto sighed, "Look I'm not going to condemn anyone for their choice of regiment they're your lives, but I hope wherever you go you'll be happy. I thoroughly enjoyed the past few years, I hope you did to. And thank you to our instructors for putting up with us." Mikoto saluted them, "It couldn't have been easy."

She turned back around, "In any case congrats on graduating and I'll see ya round."

Mikoto nodded and walked back to her place.

"TOMORROW EVENING YOU'LL CHOOSE YOUR BRANCH. FOR THE LAST TIME, DISMISSED."

"SIR," the crowed saluted.

* * *

Mikoto sat outside whilst everyone celebrated. Life was only going to get tougher for her and the other level 5s. Tomorrow they would reveal the existence of titan shifters to Commander Erwin and the day after Eren will transform in front of him. Eren probably wouldn't be in control either and she, Gunha, Teit and Accel could very easily be accused of treason and they'd all be killed.

She sighed burying her head in her hands, _w_ _hen did life become so stressful?_

"Nee-chan?"

Mikoto blinked, she'd almost forgotten Mikasa was with her.

"Yeah?"

"Are you alright?"

"I'll manage," she smiled.

"Nee-chan."

Mikoto hummed.

"Please don't join the Scouts."

Mikoto wrapped her arm around Mikasa's shoulders and pulled her into a hug.

"I have to."

"Why?"

"I'll be killed if I don't."

"Is someone threatening you?" Mikasa growled pulling away.

"Someone is threatening all of us, I'm just one of the few who know that."

Mikoto knew she didn't understand just as she didn't fully understand why she refused to tell her anything. Other than the small piece of info on the first day Mikoto hadn't said anything about the other level 5s or Misa's information.

"Will you tell me the truth?"

"Someday," she promised.

"When?"

Mikoto thought for a moment before smiling, "when the seven of us are together. So chances are you'll know within a year."

"Ok, I'll wait."

Mikoto pulled her back into a hug, "you're the best."

They parted when Eren walked out with Armin complaining about something.

"So which branch are you joining?" asked Eren once they'd sat down next to them.

"Scouts." answered Mikoto.

"Scouts." said Mikasa grabbing Mikoto's hand.

"Oh come on you're our top two, you're wasting your shot. You should go to the MPs."

"Eren, don't tell me what to do." growled Mikoto.

"I'll go where nee-chan's going." said Mikasa.

Eren sighed, "what about you Armin?"

"The Scouts."

"HAH, but you're not a fighter."

"I'm done having people fight for me."

"Looks like we're all heading to the Scouts." drawled Mikoto as Eren sighed.

* * *

The next day most of the newly graduated cadets were enjoying their last day before choosing their faction.

The scouts were getting ready to leave on another expedition.

"Hey Mikoto!"

Mikoto grinned, "Hey Gunha, how's it going."

They bumped fists.

"Not bad, hey I heard you graduated last night. What was your rank?"

Mikoto smirked, "what do you think it was?"

"With your guts, top of the class."

"You know it."

"Congratulations Mikoto," said Teit from behind Gunha.

"Thanks Teit."

"3rd rate," glared Accel.

"Accel," Mikoto glared back.

"Alright children, you can settle your differences later." chided Teit.

They both turned away from each other with a 'tsk'.

"We're off on another gutsy expedition, see ya later Mikoto." said Gunha urging his horse forward.

"Bye Mikoto," said Teit.

"Bye guys," called Mikoto.

"Try not to get killed before we return 3rd rate." said Accel.

"Ha ha," Mikoto drawled watching them leave before turning to her gawking friends, "what?"

"You're friends with the Scouts Advance Squad!" exclaimed Eren.

"Why are you so surprised? I told you I had friends in the Scouts."

"Y-Yes b-but the Advance Squad!"

"I really don't see what the big deal is."

"Hey Hey, lookie here." called Hannes.

"Hey Hannes." said Mikoto.

"Hey brats, devil child," he nodded to Mikoto who grinned. "So word on the street is they let you graduate, either you've grown up, standards have plummeted or they couldn't handle the devil child anymore."

"Hannes you're hurting my feelings," cried Mikoto, a hand on her heart and amusement shining in her eyes.

"You don't have feelings," countered Hannes ruffling her hair. "Thanks to you I can't even look at alcohol without feeling nauseous."

"I try," Mikoto grinned.

"Hey Hannes did you know Mikoto friends with the Scouts Advance Squad!" asked Eren.

Hannes paled, "w-what?"

"Yeah she was just talking to them, it was like she'd known them for years."

"I have known them for years." injected Mikoto.

"Kid, you've just gone up to a whole new level of terrifying."

"Aww, thank you."

"That wasn't a complement! Anyway I know this is out of the blue but I just want you to know your mom's death still haunts me."

"Me too, but it wasn't your fault. We were shooting in the dark then but nothing like that's gonna happen again, we know what we're dealing with now." reassured Eren.

Mikoto's eyes lowered. She knew in reality they had no idea what they were up against. She wondered how they'd react if they knew they were killing humans.

"Oh crap, I have to go. My squad's on cannon duty this afternoon." said Eren as he rushed off.

"I'm gonna go wander," said Mikoto sending Hannes a backwards wave.

"Bye Hannes," said Mikasa following Mikoto.

"I'm sorry," whispered Mikoto after they were a good distance from Hannes.

"For what?" asked Mikasa.

"Everything."

* * *

Mikoto's eyes widened when a flash of golden lightning appeared in her peripheral vision.

She spun around in time to see the Colossal Titan destroy the cannons and kick a hole in the wall. She grit her teeth and grabbed Mikasa's hand, pulling her towards the Garrison's supply tower.

"N-Nee-chan."

"I know."

Immediately after entering they were passed their gears and ordered to get ready. I didn't take long to strap it on and fill up the gas canisters.

"You alright?" she asked Mikasa who nodded but Mikoto could see the fear in her eyes and pulled her into a hug. "I love you imouto."

Mikasa hugged back, "I love you too nee-chan."

"You better not die."

"Only if you don't nee-chan."

"It's a promise."

"ALL CADETS FORM UP!"

"Come on, let's go." murmured Mikoto.

Within two minutes all cadets were assembled.

"I WANT EVERYONE SPLIT INTO FOUR SQUADRONS AS PRACTISED. ALL SQUADRONS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR SUPPLY RUNNING, MESSAGE RELAY AND ENEMY COMBAT UNDER THE COMMAND OF THE GARRISON REGIMENT. THE INTERCEPT SQUADRON WILL BE TAKING THE VANGUARD, CADETS WILL BE TAKING THE MIDDLE GUARD LEAD BY THE SUPPORT SQUAD, REAR GUARD WILL GO TO THE ELITES. I EXPECT YOU ALL TO MAN YOUR POSTS KNOWING THE ADVANCE TEAM HAS BEEN WIPED OUT. THAT'S RIGHT THE OUTER GATE IS HISTORY, THE TITANS ARE IN. THIS MEANS THE ARMORED TITAN IS LIKELY TO REAPPEAR, IF AND WHEN HE DOES THE INNER GATE WILL ALSO BE HISTORY. QUIET! RIGHT THOSE IN THE VANGUARD BE READY YOUR MISSION IS A VERY SIMPLE ONE, DEFEND THE WALL UNTIL THE EVACUATION'S DONE. NOW BE AWARE ALL OF YOU THAT DESERTION IS PUNISHABLE BY EXECUTION, IF IT COMES TO IT LAY DOWN YOUR LIVES. DISMISSED."

"SIR," everyone saluted.

"Fuck," Mikoto cursed ignoring her friends worried stares and pulled out her notebook. She quickly jotted down the situation and ripped the page out. After folding the paper she let out a piercing whistle, surprising more than a few people.

She held out her right arm and a black eagle cleanly landed.

"Hey Kage, I need you to give this to Accel," she passed him the paper and he took it in his beak. She threw him up into the sky where he took off towards Accel's location. Where Phantom had not only found but managed to train a black eagle was beyond her be he sure was useful.

"Ackerman."

Mikoto turned around and saluted, "sir."

"What was that?"

"I was sending a message to the Scout Regiment, sir."

Mikoto had to hold back a grin at the sceptical looks she was receiving.

"Are you sure that bird will make it with your message?"

"One hundred percent, sir."

"Very well then," Mikoto could see he was still skeptical but it didn't matter, she knew Kage would make it.

The Garrison soldier sighed as one of his colleagues walked up next to him.

"Mikoto Ackerman, you've been reassigned to the vanguard on special orders we leave in two minutes."

"Y-Yes sir," stuttered Mikoto.

The first soldier turned to Mikasa.

"Mikasa Ackerman, you're with me. You've been reassigned to the rear guard on special orders we leave in three."

"B-But sir," Mikasa tried to argue but Mikoto enveloped her in a hug.

"It's alright, the Scouts should be back within the hour. I'm sure I can stay alive until then. I made you a promise Mikasa, please believe in me."

Mikasa snuggled into her chest clutching the back of her jacket.

"I love you nee-chan."

"I love you too imouto," Mikoto pulled away smiling softly, "I have to go, good luck."

"You too."

Mikoto nodded and headed towards the vanguard.


	10. Chapter 10

Accel glanced to his right as a titan stumbled out the forest. Teit fired off a red flared and a green was fired from slightly up ahead. They were changing direction again. He ignored Gunha's gossiping sister, choosing to focus on his surroundings. His run in with Railgun just over an hour ago had cemented his belief she still hated him for the deaths of her sisters. He didn't blame her, they'd probably end up duking it out in the near future. In all honesty he was secretly looking forward to it, now they were on a more even playing field. He'd sparred with both Teit and Gunha but neither had managed to match up. He hoped Railgun would be more of a challenge.

"We should be coming up to a town soon." called Teit over the wind.

Accel hummed his agreement as 'Shitty Specs' as his brother had taken to calling her started fangirling.

He half turned intent on threatening her to shut up when a familiar black bird landed on his shoulder surprising everyone and shutting Zoe up.

"Kage," he greeted neutrally taking the paper from his mouth and unfolding it.

 **Colossal Titan breached Trost, Titans are in**

"Shit, Teit deliver an urgent message to Commander Erwin. The Colossal Titan has breached Trost."

The group paled.

"On it." said Teit pushing his horse forward.

"Gunha inform the other squads."

"You got it." he steered his horse to the side.

"Sorry Specs, capturing titans is going to have to wait."

"I understand."

It wasn't long before a green flare was fired signalling a change in direction.

* * *

Mikoto easily sliced through the nape of her 20th titan. Her gas level wasn't too bad and she still had a couple spare blades, only she was completely alone. He squad had all perished within the first five minutes. Charging at another she dodged the hand reaching for her and swiftly sliced the nape.

If this kept up she would run out of gas and blades. Growling, she wondered why the evacuation was taking so long. She'd easily been out here twenty minutes and the bell still hadn't rung.

She cursed and charged towards another group of titans killing them quickly and efficiently. She was sure if it weren't for her calculation ability she'd be having a harder time. But as it were all she had to do was stay alive until the bell rung and then she could escape. Until then she'd keep fighting.

28.

34.

45.

57.

Mikoto was exhausted. The bell had rung a while ago but she'd run out of gas and blades and was now using every trick in and out of the book to survive. She just couldn't seem to get out of this horde of titans and parkour was only getting her so far. She couldn't head for the nearest section of the wall because she couldn't scale it. To get to safety she'd need to head to the other side of Trost but she'd never make it, her best chance was waiting for the Scouts to show up. According to her calculations they should be nearly back anyway.

She raised her head slightly at the sound of thundering hooves and could've cried when the scouts flew over the wall and started cutting down titans.

"Accel!" she called once she'd spotted his familiar scowling face.

He landed on the roof next to her.

"Mikoto," he nodded looking slightly relieved.

"You couldn't give me a lift up the wall could you? I'm out of gas and blades."

He nodded and threw her over his shoulder easily scaling the wall.

"Thanks, I'll meet you over there," she nodded to the other side of Trost.

He nodded and jumped back into the titan infested Trost.

Mikoto started running, she had to know if Mikasa, Eren and Armin survived.

* * *

After jumping back into the fray he, Teit and Gunha started killing titans with a vengeance. They proved once again why they were the Advance Squad. It didn't take long for most titans to be exterminated but more kept coming through the hole in the wall. Erwin soon called for a retreat and his squad landed on top of the wall. Only to see some idiot from the Garrison threatening Mikoto's sister, adopted brother and friend.

"You!" he called the the two soldiers manning the cannon pointed at the three cadets, "if you fire that cannon your dead."

With that he jumped off the wall flanked by Teit and Gunha.

"What the fuck is going on down here!" he demanded walking between the two sides.

"It's the Scouts," whispered the blond kid. 'Armin Arlert' he reminded himself.

"EREN JAEGER HAS COMMITTED HIGH TREASON, HE WAS SEEN FRATERNISING WITH TITANS!"

This caused more than a few raised eyebrows.

"I didn't realise you could fraternise with titans," commented Teit.

"No I didn't either." growled Accel turning to the cadets, "blondie, what's really going on?"

Despite asking he actually had a pretty good idea. Eren had transformed during the battle revealing the existence of titan shifters to society and they hadn't been around to do damage control, leading to the current situation. He didn't want to know what would've happened if they hadn't returned when they did and silently cursed the Colossal Titan for ruining their carefully thought out plans.

"Y-You're asking me?" asked Armin.

Accel's eyebrow twitched, "yes I'm fucking asking you."

"You know this is why Mikoto calls you antisocial," said Teit ignoring Accel's glare.

"As if I give a shit what 3rd rate thinks."

"You say that but you still want her forgiveness."

"Che, that's none of your business."

"Don't worry this is fairly normal," reassured Gunha to the three startled cadets as Accel and Teit kept arguing.

"B-But the Garrison..." started Armin.

"Those guys need more guts. Besides allowing Mikoto's sister, adoptive brother and best friend to be executed is not gutsy," he smiled.

"Nee-chan's dead," whispered Mikasa lowering her head with tears in her eyes.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" demanded Accel stopping his argument with Teit. "3rd rate's not dead, I saw her five minutes ago."

"Huh?"

"OI, 3RD RATE GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE!"

"I'M TRYING ALRIGHT! AND STOP CALLING ME 3RD RATE!" came an annoyed shout from on top of the wall.

"N-Nee-chan," whispered Mikasa before using her gear to frantically scale the wall.

"Tsk, come on brats," called Accel walking towards Erwin. He could only sigh when they hesitantly followed, not that he could blame them. Some pansy in the Garrison thought killing them immediately would be better than waiting until someone of higher rank came along and sorted this mess out.

* * *

Mikoto sighed, currently the lift was being used by the Scout Regiment transporting wounded so if she wanted to use it she'd have to wait. Accel's comment really irked her, he knew she was out of gas and the lift was her only option. Now thanks to him people were giving her weird looks.

Her thoughts were interrupted when a black blur crashed into her, knocking her to the ground.

"Nee-chan," sobbed Mikasa having buried her face in her chest.

"M-Mikasa," she stuttered, realising her sister was crying. "Hey don't cry, I'm alive just like I promised remember."

She felt more than saw the nod and heard the muffled, "I love you nee-chan."

"I love you to imouto," Mikoto smiled wrapping her arms around Mikasa's shaking form.

They stayed there for a while ignoring the people around them until Commander Erwin of the Scouts and Commander Pixis of the Garrison landed on top of the wall, followed by the Advance Squad and Eren and Armin.

"Hey guys," called Mikoto as Mikasa reluctantly released her.

"Hey Mikoto," greeted Gunha and Teit as Eren and Armin breathed sighs of relief.

"So you're Mikoto Ackerman," spoke Erwin.

Mikoto stood and casually saluted, "yes sir."

"I've heard good things about you. Although I am curious how you all know each other."

Mikoto grinned, "we met in a past life, sir."

Gunha choked back a laugh, whilst Teit tried to hide his smile and Accel scoffed. He childhood friends sighed whilst the two Commanders stared in disbelief.

"I see," said Erwin attempting to regain composure, "I am also curious how you knew of the situation over here," he addressed Accel.

"3rd rate sent a message."

"Stop calling me 3rd rate!" growled Mikoto.

"A message?" asked Erwin.

"Kage delivered it." informed Mikoto.

"Who is Kage?"

Mikoto whistled and the familiar black eagle landed on her outstretched arm.

"This is Kage, Kage say hi."

The bird screeched and Mikoto grinned at the look of awe from both the Scouts and Garrison.

"Oh my god, the bird actually did it," came the awed voice of the Garrison soldier who'd confronted her after sending the note.

"Captain Dietrich would you care to elaborate," asked Pixis.

"Yes sir," he saluted, "just before the Cadets left for the battlefield Cadet Mikoto Ackerman summoned that bird and sent it off with a note claiming it would reach the Scouts."

"What note?" asked Erwin.

"Here," Accel passed it to him.

He glanced at the note before turning his attention back to Mikoto who was letting her friends pet the bird.

"Thank you for indulging me. In any case we still have a serious problem on our hands," said Erwin bringing everyone's attention back to the current situation. "Cadet Jaeger would it be possible for you to utilise your titan ability to plug the hole."

"Wait, what?" asked Mikoto, she'd had no idea Eren had transformed.

"Jaeger turned into a titan 3rd rate, keep up," growled Accel.

"Oh," said Mikoto, breathing an internal sigh of relief. This was the last place important life changing secrets should be revieled.

"As he is now that's impossible," stated Accel, "from what I heard he wasn't in control when he first transformed so why would he be now."

"Unfortunately we don't have a choice, unless you can think up another way to move that bolder," said Teit.

"In that case the mission objectives has changed slightly," announced Erwin, "the first is to aid Eren Jaeger in gaining control of his ability and the second is to move the bolder and plug Wall Rose. Failure is not an option, is that clear."

"Yes Sir," saluted the four Cadets and surrounding soldiers.

"In that case Commander Erwin, I offer the Garrison's full support," said Pixis.

"Thank you Commander Pixis, to minimise casualties the Scout Regiment will lure the titans towards the wall where the Garrison will bombard them with cannon fire. During this the Advance Squad and the Special Operations Squad will escort Eren to the bolder where he will transform. If Accel's prediction come's true then I'll need you three," he turned to Mikoto, Mikasa and Armin, "to help him gain control. I know it's a lot to ask three newly graduated cadets to willingly go back out there but I believe you are vital for the mission's success."

"I'm in," agreed Mikoto.

"So am I," said Mikasa.

"I'll do it," said Armin.

Erwin nodded, "all of you have my respect. After Eren has gained control we will continue with the original plan and plug the wall. Any questions?"

"Eren was reportedly swarmed by titans when he first transformed and there is a strong possibility of this happening again. If that's the case the plan to lure the titans might no work," said Teit.

"I agree which is why both the Advance Squad and Special Operations Squad are escorting Eren, any other questions?" He looked around, "in that case get ready, I'll inform the rest of the Regiment and we'll begin."

"Yes Sir," saluted the nearby soldiers before rushing off to prepare.

* * *

The plan went pretty much as expected. Once the other Scouts had sufficiently captured the other titans attention and drawn them away, the Advance Squad partnered with the Special Operation's Squad and four cadets raced through Trost towards the bolder where Eren transformed and subsequently lost control.

It took a good 15 minutes and a lot of encouragement/threats for him to come to his senses and move the boulder. After that it was just a matter of killing or capturing the leftover titans which was quickly taken care of.

However due to the nature of the situation Eren was taken into custody, whilst everyone else scrambled to write up reports and plan custody speeches. His trial would be held in three days and the former Esper's would be damned if he wasn't in the Scouts by the end of it.

* * *

 **Just to clarify Kage is Japanese for Shadow.**

 **Phoenix 7.49 in response to your comment stating Accel shouldn't be as good as I've portrayed him due to only him only ever relying on his ability and guns in canon. Well in the AoT universe he's about 30 years old, an Ackerman and has received training from Kenny Ackerman. So whilst he may only have his knowledge from the ACMI universe he's gained his fighting ability and instincts from the AoT universe.**

 **Hope this clarifies things.**

 **Big thank you to all those still reading and reviewing this story it's really appreciated.**


	11. Chapter 11

"Nee-chan."

Mikoto's eyes softened at Mikasa's tone. She knew this was coming, she'd been expecting it ever since Eren had transformed.

"Yes Mikasa."

"Can I talk to you?"

"Sure," Mikoto got up from her bed and led Mikasa outside into the forest and up onto the ledge looking over the cadet training grounds. Due to Eren's situation and the ongoing cleanup in Trost, their recruitment into one of the three military branches had been postponed for just under a week. In the mean time they were staying at the cadet barracks and helping with the cleanup.

Mikasa looked uncharacteristically nervous as she opened and closed her mouth several times.

"Just ask, I pretty much know what you're going to say anyway," sighed Mikoto.

"Did you know Eren could turn into a titan?"

"I did, and I'm sorry you found out that way. I heard from Gunha you ended up being shot at. We had a plan to reveal his power but the Colossal Titan showed up and messed everything up."

Mikoto sat on the ground and stared up at the stars. She knew this was a lot to take in for Mikasa. First her adopted brother turned into 'humanity's biggest threat' and now her twin sister admitted knowing he could before Eren himself knew.

"Sit down Mikasa, I'm sure you have a lot of questions and no idea where to begin."

Mikasa slowly sat down next to her.

"Before I begin know that I can't actually tell you anything right now," she held up a hand to silence Mikasa's protests. "We plan on revealing everything to the Scouting Regiment, but first we need to deal with the infiltrators."

"Infiltrators?"

"The Colossal and Armored titans are like Eren and they're just the ones we've seen. However those infiltrators didn't appear until 5 years ago and Accel, Teit and Gunha have been Scouts longer than that. This begs the question, 'why didn't they say anything sooner?' the answer to that is, we couldn't prove anything and we didn't want to risk attracting certain people's attention. Now that Eren has revealed the existence of titan shifter's we can finally start talking."

Mikasa nodded but Mikoto knew she was starting to understand the scale of the secrets she was keeping.

"So what happens now?" asked Mikasa.

"Well first we get Eren into the Scouts, then flush out the traitors in our midst."

"And then will you tell the Scouts what you know."

"Yes."

Mikasa nodded but Mikoto could see there was still something bothering her, "how did you meet them?"

"Accel, Teit and Gunha?"

Mikasa nodded.

"I promised to tell you when the 7 of us were together, remember?"

Mikasa eyebrows furrowed, "I though you meant about who was threatening you?"

Mikoto smiled sadly, "I meant everything. If you don't already know it by the time the 7 of us are together, then I will tell you whatever you want to know. That is what I promised you."

Mikoto was taken aback when Mikasa tackle hugged her, "I love you nee-chan."

"I love you to, imouto. Don't ever forget that."

She felt Mikasa nod against her chest and waited a couple minutes before gently pushing her away.

"Now what's this I hear about you performing a suicide run?" Mikoto asked sternly and Mikasa froze up before looking at the ground with a guilty expression.

"I-I'm sorry nee-chan, I-I though you and Eren were d-dead, a-and I just..." Mikasa hiccuped, "are you mad."

Mikoto frowned and pulled her back into a hug, "I'm not mad, I'm upset but I'm not mad. Just next time, make sure you truly have nothing left before deciding life's not worth living. Ok?"

"Ok," sniffled Mikasa.

* * *

Mikoto stood in between Mikasa and a Garrison soldier called Rico Brzenska, waiting for Eren's trial to begin. Mikoto didn't know her but Mikasa had glared at her rather venomously. Hence why she was standing between them.

There was a lot of quiet muttering but Mikoto wasn't all that worried, she trusted Accel and Teit to come up with a fool proof plan to convince Darius Zackly the Scouts should gain custody of him. It was vital they did after all without him they would lose the war against Marley.

She was snapped out of he thoughts when the main doors opened and Eren walked in followed by a couple guy from the MP.

He was quickly chained to the ground and Darius Zackly entered taking his seat. "Alright, shall we begin. Your name is Eren Jaeger and as a soldier you've sworn to answer humanity's call, is that correct."

"Yes."

Mikoto couldn't help but think he sounded really out of it. Was he really that surprised to be on trial?

"Your astuteness in appreciated. Now as predicted covering up your existence has proven quite fruitless therefore the Regiment that takes custody of you will determine your fate. In other words I decide whether you live or die. Is that understood?"

"Yes sir."

Zackly nodded, "Now will the Military Police please present their case."

The Military Police's case was pretty much dissection and extermination. Whilst the Scout Regiment's case was to use his power to retake Wall Maria.

Then the loudmouth civilians got involved and Mikoto officially stopped listening. She only started paying attention again when Accel started speaking.

"Excuse me Commander DoK, are you suggesting that neither the Scout Regiment's Advance Squad or Special Operation's Squad could take down one fifteen meter abnormal?"

Mikoto had to lower her head to hide her shit eating grin. The Scout's Advance Squad were the best of the best, far above the Special Operation's Squad in terms of knowledge and skill. To imply they couldn't take down one titan, abnormal or not was a massive insult. Especially after implying the Military Police could should Eren transform in their custody.

Nile Dok spluttered for a moment before hastily denying Accel's statement.

"Sir, I have a proposition," said Erwin raising his hand.

"What is it?" asked Zackly.

"There's still to much we don't know and no doubt his danger will be ever present as such I suggest this. Eren Jaeger be placed under Captain Levi's supervision and we'll conduct a recon mission outside the wall."

"Eren Jaeger will join you in this excersion?"

"Yes sir, and you can look upon the mission results yourself. If he successfully controls his ability, Eren will have proven his value to mankind."

"Eren Jaeger will be closely supervised? and if he should lose control?"

"I can definitely kill him if it comes to it," stated Levi.

"As can anyone on my squad," added Accel.

"Then I have made my choice. Eren Jaeger shall be temporarily instated as a Scout until after the expedition where I shall make my final judgment. Dismissed."

Mikoto breathed a sigh of relief as Eren was released and everyone begun to filter out.

"Well, that went well," she said, walking out the doors with Mikasa and Armin.

"I guess so," muttered Armin.

"What do you mean, I guess so? He's in the Scouts and no one beat him up to get him there."

"Was that what they were planning to do?" asked Armin.

"Probably, it would be a show of power and control. Unfortunately one of his transformation conditions is an injury, so if he got hurt and accidentally transformed we'd be screwed."

"You seem to know an awful lot about his ability considering you only saw him transform once."

Mikoto stared at him for a moment before smiling bemusedly, "I read the report Armin."

"Sorry," muttered Armin looking guilty.

"Don't be, it's not like your suspicion is completely unfounded."

With that Mikoto ignored his questioning gaze and continued walking. Now that Eren was in the Scouts they could finally focus on figuring out the identities of the infiltrators. Then it was just a matter of taking them out, which was easier said than done. She doubted their blades could penetrate the armored titan's armor and they still didn't know which other shifters came with the Colossal and Armored Titans. Still now that Eren had reviled himself a titan shifter, no doubt their plan had changed and they'd try and capture him. Probably during the upcoming expedition. Mikoto sighed, they had a lot of word ahead of them.


	12. Chapter 12

Mikoto watched calmly as the Military Police inspected everyone's gears. She doubted they'd find anything, in fact she doubted the MP's were all that bothered whether or not they caught whoever killed the two captured titans. They were probably only doing this so they wouldn't get any hassle from the higher ups. It didn't matter either way, as long as the MP's stayed out of the level 5's business what they did was irrelevant.

"Alright next," said the MP.

"Leader of Squad 36, Mikoto Ackerman sir."

"When did you last replace your shaft?"

"Yesterday, after Eren Jaeger's trial sir."

He checked his clipboard and nodded, "you're clean. Next."

Mikoto almost scoffed. They didn't even check her gear or anything. Ah well, it didn't matter. By tonight she would be a Scout and tomorrow she'd be placed in the Advance Squad. Then they could easily confer with each other. The wait was over and they could finally start acting.

* * *

Mikoto frowned during Erwin's recruitment speech, if one could call it that. If anything it sounded more like he was trying to dissuade people from joining. Though one thing was clear, Erwin knew there were traitors in their midst and was trying to bait them.

In the end, she, Mikasa, Armin, Jean, Marco, Sasha, Connie, Reiner, Bertholdt, Krista, Ymir and a couple other guys she couldn't remember the names of were left.

"I ask you, if you were ordered to die would you do it?" asked Erwin.

"We don't wanna die sir," shouted Jean.

Erwin smiled, "of course, let us hope that you don't then. You who stayed, you are now one of us. Allow me to welcome you to the Scout Regiment, this is a genuine salute soldiers. Together we give our hearts."

"Sir!" everyone saluted back.

"Those of you here have worked through your fear. You have proven yourself courageous. Each one of you has my respect. Tomorrow you will be transported to our current base of operations where you'll begin training. Dismissed."

"Sir!"

* * *

Mikoto was currently finding first day as a Scout fairly boring. She'd watched as Dieter Ness got his bandanna pulled by his horse before he'd managed to free himself and escorte them to a classroom to memorise the long range scouting formation. 10 minutes into the lesson she had memorised it and was bored out of her mind. Though after 25 minutes she perked up slightly at a knock on the door.

"Come in," called Dieter.

Accel walked in with his usual glare and scowl.

"Captain Accel, what can I do for you?"

"I've come to retrieve Mikoto Ackerman," he turned to her, "3rd rate you're in my squad now, get moving."

"You know that nickname really doesn't apply anymore," grumbled Mikoto standing up.

"Nee-chan," whispered Mikasa and Mikoto ruffled her hair smiling.

"I'll see you later."

* * *

After Mikoto equipped her gear she followed Accel on horseback and they soon arrived at a training area where Teit and Gunha were waiting.

"Finally," yawned Gunha as Teit greeted them.

"Right, lets start," stated Accel sitting down.

Mikoto nodded sitting next to him, "we need to figure out who the infiltrators are."

"I believe them to be members of the 104th cadet corps," said Teit.

"Your basis," demanded Mikoto.

"It's too coincidental that the Colossal Titan reappeared the day after you graduated. Also the Scouts and MP's weren't present and only the cadets and Garrison were permitted on and around the wall. I think we can all agree there in no benefit to being in the Garrison."

"I agree," said Accel and Gunha nodded.

"Okay, if that's the case since they're targeting the walls they're probably in the top 10. Since the only the MP's live in the interior," deduced Mikoto.

They all nodded.

"I would also wager they'd say they were from outside Wall Rose, because you can easily prove if they were from within," added Accel and Mikoto nodded.

"The top 10 were myself, Mikasa, Reiner Braun, Bertholdt Hoover, Annie Leonhart, Eren Jaeger, Jean Kirstein, Marco Bodt, Connie Springer and Sasha Blouse. Those who came from outside Wall Rose were myself, Mikasa, Reiner, Bertholdt, Annie and Eren."

"In other words our main suspects are Reiner Braun, Bertholdt Hoover and Annie Leonhart," said Teit, "though it's strange, I would've thought there'd be at least one more. Especially considering they had to travel through hordes of titans to get here."

Mikoto nodded, "The Colossal Titan would've been seen, the Armored Titan's not swift enough and whichever other one accompanied them wouldn't have made it through the titan hoard on their own."

"Not unless they had incredible guts," exclaimed Gunha.

"Shut up Crash," growled Accel.

"What about Ymir?" asked Teit.

"I'm still struggling to believe Marley would accept someone called Ymir, let alone give her titan powers," said Mikoto and she could see the other's agreed with her.

"How did Ymir act in training?"

"She enjoyed teasing everyone and was pretty much always with Historia. But she'd always try and encourage people to be themselves and never sugarcoated anything."

"How did she interact with Reiner, Bertholdt and Annie?" asked Accel.

"She didn't as far as I know. Reiner and Bertholdt were always together and Annie would sometimes meet up with them at night, but as far as I'm aware Ymir never interacted with them beyond what was necessary."

"So I think it's pretty obvious Reiner, Bertholdt and Annie are Titan shifters, and there's a high probability Ymir is as well. However whether or not Ymir is with them is still up for debate. Personally I don't think so but as long as I don't know where her allegiances are I won't trust her."

"Agreed," said Teit as Mikoto and Gunha nodded.

"You see, we can have civilised conversations without trying to kill each other," grinned Mikoto after a few seconds of silence causing Gunha to laugh, Teit to chuckle and Accel to scoff.

"Now that that's taken care of, 3rd rate you and I have unfinished business," growled Accel with a glare.

Mikoto returned it, "agreed."

Teit and Gunha wisely stepped back as Accel and Mikoto shot into the trees.

"Think they'll be alright?" asked Teit knowing they needed to get this out of their system as soon as possible.

A loud clang of steel reverberated throughout the forest.

"With their guts, no problem," said Gunha.

* * *

They were being stared at. Not that Mikoto could blame them, she and Accel were a mess.

Her hair was a mess, her jacket ripped and filthy, shirt not much better. Her white trousers now mostly a mixture of brown, green and red. Her face probably not much better. Accel was in the same boat, he'd won their fight but only just. Now there was a silent understanding between them and they could finally put the sister's incident behind them.

Though honestly they should've known better than to just walk into the mess hall without at least trying to look presentable first. Now the whole room was staring at them.

Mikoto couldn't help herself, "what? Is there something on my face?"

She could hear Teit and Gunha trying to choke back laughter as the rest of the room stared in disbelief.

"Oi specs, if you're not busy we could use some medical assistance," drawled Accel.

"R-Right," stammered Zoe standing up and leading her and Accel out the room, Mikasa and Levi following close behind.

They sat in the makeshift infirmary and let Gunha's sister examine them.

"No broken bones, though there is quite a bit of bruising. I'll need to disinfect the cuts but you both need showers first," said Zoe.

Mikoto hummed in agreement as Mikasa pulled a few leaves out of her hair.

Accel just grunted whilst Levi was staring at him in disgust/curiosity/annoyance/disbelief and a few other emotions Mikoto couldn't place. Never had she been gladder her sister wasn't a clean freak, although at least Accel's brother wasn't glaring at him.

"What were you even doing out there," asked Zoe.

"Training," Accel answered immediately.

"Teamwork exercise," Mikoto added.

Zoe sighed at the very unrepentant stares she was receiving. "Just take a shower and come back," with that she walked out the room, presumably to finish her dinner.

"Wasn't as bad as I thought it was," muttered Accel standing up.

Mikoto hummed in agreement.

"Accel what the fuck were you doing out there!" demanded Levi.

"Training."

"Fuck that, your squad trains with mine 4 times a week. You never have a hair out of place let alone..." he gestured at Accel's state, "the fuck were you doing?"

Accel looked to Mikoto silently asking if it was okay. Mikoto nodded slightly.

"3rd rate and I were sorting out personal issues."

"Personal issues? What personal issues!"

Both Accel and Mikoto bowed their heads slightly.

"It's complicated," breathed Mikoto.

"The fuck it is!"

"LEVI!" snapped Accel, "drop it," Accel marched out the room leaving a stunned Levi, regretful Mikoto and confused Mikasa.


	13. Chapter 13

The expedition was starting and Mikoto was right up front with Accel, Teit and Gunha, waiting silently behind Erwin for the gate to open. The mission was clear, capture the enemy titan shifter at all costs. They even had titan serum (courtesy of Misa Reiss) on them just in case, although that was a last resort. Mikoto had also warned them of Annie's combat prowess, and even demonstrated her moves. Surprisingly it was Gunha who recognised them as Muay Thai, though he didn't really know anything about it. Apparently he'd watched it on the MMA but it wasn't in his words, 'a gutsy enough style'.

"Titan's in the vicinity have been lured away, gate opens in 30 seconds."

"THIS IS IT, THE DAY HAS COME FOR HUMANITY TO TAKE ANOTHER STEP FORWARD. NOW LETS SHOW THOSE TITANS EXACTLY WHAT WE'RE MADE OF!"

"YEAH!"

Mikoto's grip on her reins tightened when the gate opened.

"FORWARD," roared Erwin propelling his horse into a canter and everyone followed. "IT'S OFFICIALLY BEGUN, THE 57TH RECON MISSION. SCOUTS MOVE OUT!"

Almost immediately out the gate a 10 meter titan started closing in on the main group, thankfully it was quickly dealt with by the support squad.

"LONG RANGE FORMATION, LET'S GO!" called Erwin the moment they were clear of the city.

Mikoto quickly took her place with Gunha on Erwin's front right, Levi and Teit took the front left.

There were a lot of red signals, a few black and they changed direction a few times as well but currently no sign of Annie.

It was about an hour and a half into the expedition when it happened, multiple black signals coming from the right flank.

"Think that's her?" asked Gunha.

"Undoubtedly," answered Mikoto changing course as Erwin fired a green smoke signal.

They soon came upon their target area, a forest of tall trees.

Riding inside they stopped a good distance from the entrance and whilst other squads set up equipment the advance squad focused of killing any titan they saw.

It wasn't long after everything was in place and the Advance Squad had topped up their gas that they heard it, the unmistakable sound of running footsteps.

"ALRIGHT EVERYONE GET READY!" called Erwin and everyone tensed, "FIRE!"

Multiple wires shot out from all sides pinning down the female titan and leaving Levi's squad to carry on.

"Well, that went better that I though it would," confessed Mikoto as Accel grunted in agreement.

"Fire all reserve wires," Erwin ordered, pinning the female titan down further.

"Is it me or is this going a little too smoothly?" asked Teit landing next to Mikoto.

"It's going too smoothly," answered Mikoto as cannons were fired at the female titan's crystallised hands, "speaking of, Accel you may want to stop your brother from antagonising her."

"Does it matter?"

"Probably not."

"RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!"

The former espers glanced at each other and immediately took up defensive positions. They didn't know what that roar did but they doubted it was nothing, ability users were tricky like that.

They struck the second the horde of titans were in view, each taking a different side. They may have been the best of the best but titans soon started slipping through and eating the female titan. All the Advance Squad could do was keep cutting them down and hope it was enough. It wasn't and Erwin soon called the retreat.

"Dammit," cursed Accel as they regrouped in the trees, "replenish your gas we're initiating pursuit."

"Right," they chorused and quickly swung down to the supply area, ignoring the others frozen in shock as the Female Titan was eaten. Time was of the essence the sooner they could begin the pursuit, the higher the chance they could intercept her before she reached the Special Ops squad.

The group shot into the forest bloodhound Teit leading the way. They traveled in tense silence and it wasn't long before a green flare was fired followed by another.

Glancing at Accel he nodded and Mikoto stopped and fired off a black flare. They doubted it would scare Annie off especially considering her mission, but it would warn the Special Ops squad of the impending danger.

They joined the fray as soon as they arrived. Teit went to Eren, Accel struck high, Mikoto struck low and Gunha rounded up the Special Ops squad. They may have been the 2nd best squad in the Scout Regiment but they'd only get in the way here.

It was all part of their plan. Accel and Mikoto would take on Annie and once weakened Titan Eren would pin her down and they'd cut her out of the nape. Teit would pass the plan to Eren and supervise him once transformed (it would help in his court case), whilst Gunha would keeps the Special Ops squad away from the action.

They were all relying on the skills they'd gained in both worlds. Accelerator's genius and knowledge combined with Accel's physique, instincts and training from Kenny. Teitoku Kakine's genius and knowledge with Teit Zacharias's senses. Mikoto Misaka's genius, knowledge and combat experience with Mikoto Ackerman's instincts and training from Accel. Gunha Sogiita's guts, with Gunha Hanji's guts. However it was the knowledge that was the most useful. Knowledge of their world's history and knowledge of ability users. They understood what it meant to wield an ability, their thought process, what they're capable of. It was because of this understanding they could predict what their enemy would do, and that was what made them so terrifying.

The Special Ops squad could only watch in awe and slight fear, as Accel and Mikoto hashed away at the female titan. Moving faster than what they thought possible. It was rare to see Accel or Levi go all out, they hadn't thought it possible for anyone else to keep up. Until today. Neither were showing any mercy as they whittled away at Annie's stamina. Within a couple minutes Titan Annie collapsed to the ground, and with a shout from Accel, Titan Eren was immediately on top of her pinning her down. The Advance Squad swung down each taking a side as they cut around the nape exposing Annie Leonhart. Moving to slash her limbs off a bright flash quickly blinded them, leaving Annie completely encased in crystal.

A strangely ideal outcome for the Advance Squad. Though they still needed to play their part.

"FOR FUCKS SAKE!" shouted Accel jumping off the disintegrating titan and walking off.

"Typical," spat Mikoto stomping away.

"Wasted effort," grumbled Teit leaning against a tree.

"Not gutsy," scowled Gunha jumping off and folding his arms.

Eren pulled himself out of his titan and stared uncomprehendingly at the crystallised Annie.

"I don't think I've ever seen the Advance Squad so pissed," said Eld softly and Gunther, Oluo and Petra nodded.

"A-Annie?" breathed Eren betrayal plastered on his face.

"You know her?" asked Gunther.

"Ranked 5th in the 104th Cadet Corps and joined the Military Police after graduation, Annie Leonhart," supplied Mikoto with a scowl on her face.

"She really was one of us," said Petra in disbelief.

"Eren," Mikoto waved him over and patted the ground next to her. "You alright?"

"I-I don't-"

"You don't understand." Mikoto nodded, "You were a lot closer with Annie than I was, she even taught you some martial arts. You trusted her a lot so of course you're going to feel betrayed. But that doesn't change the fact she murdered our entire right wing and came after you."

"I know, I know that but...I just don't understand, why? Why did she do this?"

"We're on opposite sides of a war, that's why," she pulled him into a one armed hug.

* * *

30 minutes later had the Advance Squad and Special Operations Squad pushing the giant crystal towards the road where Petra was waiting with their largest cart. Teit had informed Erwin of the situation and brought it, along with orders to load up the crystallised Annie and emerge from the treeline looking defeated. If anyone asked the Female Titan escaped after a short battle with the Advance Squad.

Then they had the problem of actually loading it onto the cart. Until Mikoto suggested standing the crystal upright and reversing the cart backwards letting it gently fall. They dismantled Accels gear and used the wires to maneuver the giant crystal. They'd give the excuse it broke which would add credence to their story. They also added his remaining gas into Mikoto's gear since she had the least. It took a lot of effort but eventually they got the crystal onto the cart and covered it in a sheet. No one spoke as Accel drove the cart along the road and everyone followed.

* * *

The ride back to Karanes was tense. The Advance Squad's siblings were practically glued to their sides, and all but Accel and Levi stayed away from Annie's cart. It wouldn't do to look like they were protecting it after all. Levi's squad was in front of it also it lost in thought.

Accel had also borrowed an ODM from the man now driving Annie's Crystal, not that he knew what the cart contained.

They all turned at a shout of "Titans," from the rear and mentally cursed when they saw 2 titans closing in on the main regiment.

If that wasn't bad enough there were also titans closing in on both sides.

"Tsk, MIKOTO TAKE THE REAR, TEIT GUNHA THE LEFT, LEVI WITH ME," shouted Accel galloping towards the right.

Mikoto swiftly turned her horse around and galloped straight towards the closest 2, Mikasa following close behind.

Leaping out of the saddle she shot her wire at the hip of the abnormal, swinging up and behind before shooting her wire into the nape and slicing it off. Glancing at the other she smiled slightly seeing Mikasa take care of it. The danger wasn't over yet though and quickly landed back on her horse. Accel had charged her with protecting the rear and that was what she would do.

It wasn't long until Accel, Levi, Teit and Gunha rejoined the Regiment.

30 minutes later they stopped to sort out their positions in the formation.

The Advance Squad were each situated at different points within the Scout Support Squad.

Eventually they made it back and were forced to endure the general public's ignorance.


	14. Chapter 14

Accel really hated military trials. They were long boring and had civilians that in his opinion shouldn't be allowed entry.

The fact he was pretty much on his own today really didn't help his mood. The rest of his squad got the pleasure of sitting around watching the Scouts from the 104th Trainee Corps. Well at least he had Levi. This world for all its faults had given him the one thing he hadn't realised he'd wanted, a family. He knew the most of the other level 5's felt the same. Even Railgun who'd been forced to leave her old family behind, loved Mikasa more than anything. If given the choice of returning to their old lives he knew at least 5 of them would refuse. It was almost funny. To think that 5 out of the 7 most powerful people in one world would willingly give up their power for the sibling they should never have had.

It was because of that love they were here now. Trying to fight a war they currently didn't have a snowball's chance in hell of winning. They had knowledge, skill and most importantly each other. They may have despised each other in Academy City, but here, with their siblings lives on the line, they were each other's most trustworthy ally. Meltdowner and Phantom were only in this for their own survival, if Marley won they were all goners. He didn't care, for now they were trustworthy and that was all that mattered.

Eren was quickly led in and chained to the floor again whilst Darius Zackley took his seat.

"Right let's begin. I've read the reports from the Scouting Regiment and must commend you for capturing a traitor in our midst," started Zackley.

"Thank you sir," said Erwin.

"That being said without the quick thinking of the Advance Squad the situation could've turned out very differently. Regardless the reports say that with the authority of Captain Accel, and with both the Scouts Advance Squad and Special Operations Squad minus Captain Levi in attendance, Eren Jeager was granted authorisation to utilise his titan ability. Is this correct Captain."

"Yes sir," said Accel. This was the only reason he was here. To confirm everything in his, his squads, and Levi's squads reports. Having been the highest ranking officer on scene he'd been the only one in his squad required to attend this trial.

"Mr Jeager do you remember what happened?"

"Yes sir."

"Then please describe the incident to me in your own words."

"The Female Titan transformed the moment she saw us and the Scouts Special Operations Squad engaged her in battle. I was ordered to stay back, away from the fight. No long afterwards the Advance Squad arrived, Teit approached me and Gunha pulled the Special Operations Squad back whilst Captain Accel and Mikoto engaged the Female titan in combat."

"Are you referring to Teit Zacharias and Gunha Hanji?"

"Yes sir."

"I see, and who is this Mikoto?"

"Mikoto Ackerman, ranked 1st within the southern 104th Cadet Corps, joined the Advance Squad immediately after placement within the Scout Regiment," answered Accel ignoring all the wide eyed looks he was getting.

Zackly nodded, "please continue."

"Teit explained their plan and ordered me to transform. When I did I waited for Captain Accel to signal me, when he did I pinned down the Female Titan whilst the Advance Squad cut her out of the nape. But there was a bright flash of light and the traitor was encased in crystal."

Accel caught Zackley's eye and nodded. They'd agreed to refer to Annie as 'The Traitor' for now. They didn't need the general public throwing a fit and demanding to know how a 'threat of humanity' ended up within wall Sina. That was a headache no one wanted to deal with.

"Your recollection of the situation coincides with the reports I received. It is now clear to me that Mr Jeager is indeed able to control his ability, thus I grant the Scout Regiment full custody. Dismissed."

"Thank you sir," nodded Erwin and Accel could practically see the anger rolling of Nile Dok. Though honestly he was just glad it was over. 2 problems down god knows how many left.

* * *

 **10 Hours Earlier, South of Wall Sina.**

"I'm bored," moaned Mikoto staring up at the sky from the roof of the former Scout Regiment HQ. Apparently this had been their base when they'd only had about 20 members. They'd spent the entirety of yesterday cleaning the place.

"Same," groaned Gunha from her left, "how do you think the trial's going?"

"Probably hasn't started yet. Doesn't really matter though, Eren will end up in Scout custody. We only needed to prove he had control after all."

"I guess," he sighed, "I wish Zoe was here."

"And I wish Mikasa was here. Lucky Teit getting to stay with his brother."

Gunha grunted in agreement.

"We did tell them who the infiltrators were didn't we?" he asked.

"Yep."

"Then why are we here?"

"Who knows," she sat up, "but this is ridiculous, they're going to suspect something's going on. Especially since we're fully armed and they can't even wear their uniform."

"You're being paranoid."

"Really? I'd be suspicious in their shoes. Besides both Connie and Sasha's villages are nearby. I wouldn't be surprised if they made a break for it soon."

Gunha grinned, "It'd be a gutsy escape."

"It's fine right? As long as we cleared up the mess," Mikoto mirrored his grin.

They looked over when Teit landed on their roof.

"Titan's are coming from the south," he said before either could greet him.

"What?! But surely we'd have heard if Trost or Krolva had been taken," argued Mikoto. Teit nodded. "Are you saying the actual wall itself is broken? But thats..."

"I know."

They all looked grim. If the wall hadn't been breached than that means someone turned the people of one of the nearby villages into titans.

"Dammit," cursed Mikoto as they jumped off the roof and each grabbed the tack for their horses. If this situation wasn't bad enough Accel had Kage so they couldn't even send a message.

Within 2 minutes everyone was riding intent on getting the word out as soon as possible.

"The second the titans reach the woods we'll split up. I want 4 separate teams recruits and soldiers alike in each unit. When I give the signal we'll scatter in different directions simultaneously. Get the word out to civilians do not engage the enemy. Who is most familiar with the area?" asked Mike.

Sasha's hand shot up, "M-Me, sir my hometown's just to the north of here. I know this region like the back of my hand. Connie too, go on tell him."

"My village, my village is to the south. That's where the titans are coming from. I can lead you to nearby settlements but afterwards, let me go home. Please," asked Connie.

None noticed the Advance Squad's pained expressions.

"Very well," agreed Mike, "guide the southern team then go to your village."

"Yes sir."

"I'll go with you Connie," offered Reiner much to the Esper's surprise.

"What no you're crazy they'll be everywhere," refuted Connie.

"You think I care. I was gonna help you get home anyway wasn't I," he turned to Bertholdt who was staring at him with and unidentifiable expression. "What about you Bertholdt? You coming?"

"Of course. I'll go as well."

"I'm sure you've already realised but this marks the new darkest day in humanity's history. If there was ever a time to give out all then it's now," said Nanaba.

"Titan's have breached the woods!" shouted Jack.

"SCATTER NOW, RIDE FOR ALL YOUR WORTH!," ordered Mike.

Suddenly the 9 titans that had been walking towards them broke into a sprint.

"WHAT THE!"

"THEY'RE FAST!"

"THEY'RE CHASING US!"

"I GOT IT!" shouted Mikoto turned her horse around.

"ACKERMAN WAIT!" roared Mike.

"Don't worry bro, when it comes to skill Mikoto is second only to Accel," assured Teit.

"No one has more guts than Mikoto, she'll be fine," grinned Gunha.

Mike grit his teeth clearly not happy but continued anyway.

Teit joined his brother on the South Team, whilst Gunha joined Nanaba on the Western Team.

* * *

Mikoto exhaled from on top of the former HQ having just finished off the last of the 9 titans.

Abnormals the lot of them.

Now all that was left was the Beast Titan. At 17 meters he towered over everything, the terrain putting her at a massive disadvantage. Not to mention he'd seen her technique. The only way she could possibly win was to catch him by surprise and slice him up before he could react. An impossible feat for nearly anyone else.

Now he was walking casually towards her, clearly not seeing her as a threat.

She tensed when stopped a couple meters in front of her and crouched down slightly.

Just as he opened his mouth she struck.

Faster than he could react she sliced him to peaces, he couldn't even harden in time as she sliced him out of the nape.

"Ackerman," was the first word that came out of the man's mouth.

Mikoto smiled coldly, "Funny, I thought only the royal family knew about the Ackerman clan. Name's Mikoto Ackerman by the way. What about you?"

The man stayed silent.

"Fine don't answer. Still what to do with you? Let's see, I could kill you. I could take you to my Commander where you would be placed deep underground and tortured for information. Or I could even turn myself into a titan and eat you," she pulled out her box of titan serum, "because as long as your limbs can't grow back you are powerless. So what's it gonna be?"

The man grit his teeth, "Zeke Jeager."

Mikoto's eyes narrowed, "Jeager? You wouldn't happen to know a Grisha Jeager, would you?"

Zeke's eyes widened, "How do you know that name?"

"I lived with him for a bit when I was a child. What's your relation to him?"

"My father. Is he..."

"He's dead. So how's Marley doing these days?"

"You know? Of course you do, you're the government's loyal dog after all."

"As if I would pledge my loyalty to such trash," she growled, "I have my own agenda."

"And what is that agenda?"

"To free the Eldian people. Not that I would expect a Marley Warrior to understand."

They knew it was unrealistic. The only possible way for that to happen would be to completely rid Eldians of the titan power. To make it so Eldian's couldn't turn into human eating monsters. They just hadn't quite figured out how to do that yet.

Someday the world was going to declare war on them, and they didn't have the power or resources to win. Technology was advancing, and eventually Eldia even with the power of the 9 titans, wouldn't be able to stand up to the rest of the world. The fear and hatred would be gone but so would they and their families.

It wasn't like they didn't have any options. Surely there were nations out there that hated Marley they could ally with. But first they had to deal with the invading Marley Warriors, their internal problems, the titans, more invaders from Marley and then try and find nations to ally with. It would take a long time but they were prepared for that.

"I seen, in that case I have a proposition for you," said Zeke.

"I'm listening."


	15. Chapter 15

"Accel's going to murder me," muttered Mikoto as she galloped in the direction of the Southern team.

Zeke Jeager revealed he was allied to the continents Anti-Marley faction, and their goal was also to free the Eldian people. He then made her a proposition. If they could succeed in their coup d'état, obtain the Founding Titan's power, and force the Marley Warriors off the island, he would offer them an alliance.

Of course she didn't believe him straight away, and demanded to know the identities of the other Warriors.

To her surprise he gave them up immediately.

Marcel Gaillard was the Jaw Titan. Annie Leonhart was the Female Titan. Bertholdt Hoover was the Colossal Titan. Reiner Braun was the Armored Titan. He was the Beast Titan, and Pieck was the Cartman Titan.

This also cleared up the mystery surrounding Ymir. She didn't know a Marcel Gaillard which means, Pure Titan Ymir must've eaten him when the Warriors made their way over. Talk about careless. Still for them, what a stroke of luck.

She'd then asked why he turned the people of Rokoko Village into Titans. Apparently that was 2 fold. The first reason was to see if he could turn them back without Marley watching. This turned out to be a failure. The second was to draw out the Founding Titan, because only they would be able to turn them back.

Mikoto didn't tell him that the royal family wasn't in possession of the Founding Titan. Only that they wouldn't do anything.

She agreed to let him go on the condition that he would not control the pure titans or interfere with them in any way, and even answered some of his questions on the ODM gear. In return he'd warned her these titans could substitute moonlight for sunlight.

She waited until his limbs had regenerated and he'd recovered enough energy to transform. He didn't attack her only offering a wave as he walked away.

Once he was out of sight she switched out her gas canisters and called her horse back.

The sun was setting as she galloped towards Ragako Village. The trial was probably over by now and Accel should've sent Teit the results. Not that there was any doubt of the outcome.

By the time she arrived the sun had fully set. Walking around she spotted Zeke's failed attempt at reverting a Titan back into an Eldian. The limbs were far too small for the body preventing it from moving, enabling Zeke to do whatever he wanted.

"I'm so sorry Connie," she whispered turning her horse around. Knowing the Scouts they probably set about examining the wall. The Southern team would've gone to Trost and walked the length of the wall, whilst the Western team would've gone to Krolva and done the same. Theoretically they would've met up halfway between the two. Which is where she needed to go.

She quickly set of at a gallop towards the wall. Though she cursed when the full moon appeared from behind the clouds. Approaching the wall she caught sight of part of a castle not far away, and cantered towards it. Even if they weren't there she could at least stay the night.

Nearing the castle she waved up at the Scouts on the roof and led her horse into the old stable with the others.

"Ruins of Utgard Castle," she read before entering and running up the stairs. "Hey, room for one more," she grinned entering the room most were hold up in.

"Mikoto!" smiled most of the 104th.

"Yo," she waved before high fiving Teit and being nuggied by Gunha.

Mike looked like a massive weight had just been lifted from his shoulders.

"So what's the verdict?" she asked after freeing herself from Gunha's hold.

"No breach as far as we can tell, though we still don't know how the titans are getting in," said Nanaba.

"I see," she said taking a seat and pulling out her notebook.

"What are you doing?" asked Connie.

"Writing Accel my report."

* * *

 **10 minutes later.**

"Accel's going to murder you," said Teit with such certainty that everyone in the room turned towards them.

Gunha just stared in aghast at the report she was writing.

Mikoto whimpered pitifully before looking around the room.

"Krista."

"Y-Yes."

"If I don't make it, could you do something for me?"

Krista glanced around nervously before swallowing, "s-sure."

"Could you tell Mikasa I love her and that I'm sorry I wasn't able to keep my promise."

Everyone was glancing at each other.

"O-Of course."

"Oh and beat Jean up for me as well would you."

Poor Krista just nodded looking very confused.

"Thanks," Mikoto went back to writing her report.

"Why is Captain Accel going to murder you?" asked Gelgar.

"Politics," she groaned.

'Politics?' he mouthed to Nanaba who shrugged looking just as confused.

"What did Jean do?" asked Connie and everyone jumped at the killing intent rolling off Mikoto.

"Thinks he can flirt with my sister does he. If he so much as touches her I'll castrate him. I've heard penises sell for quite the price on the black market."

* * *

Both Lynne and Henning turned abruptly when the trapdoor burst open and all the men rushed through and slammed it shut.

"HURRY WE NEED TO BLOCK IT OFF WITH SOMETHING!" screamed Teit.

"THERE'S NOTHING UP HERE!" panicked Connie.

"REINER WITH ME," ordered Gunha throwing himself on top of the trapdoor. Reiner joining him not a moment later.

The 2 oblivious Scouts glanced at each other.

"What's going on?" asked Lynne.

"There's a devil down there," whimpered Mike.

* * *

 **1 1/2 hour later.**

"EVERYONE WAKE UP, GET TO THE TOWER IMMEDIATELY!" screamed Lynne.

The Advance Squad reacted first, shooting up the stairs faster than most people could blink.

As predicted they were being swarmed. Of course she'd already warned Teit and Gunha this would happen so they at least were expecting it.

"I couldn't see them in the dark but with the moonlight..." Lynne trailed off.

"How can they move? This shouldn't be happening. The sun went down hours ago!" panicked Gelgar.

"Hey guys, the hell is that!" shouted Connie pointing to the Beast Titan walking towards the wall.

Mikoto nodded inconspicuously when both Teit and Gunha glanced at her. Confirming their silent question.

"A titan? It looks more like a beast," said Connie.

The Advance Squad glanced at the very telling expressions on both Reiner and Bertholdt's faces. Not that they needed additional confirmation at this point.

They all stumbled slightly when a titan crashed into the tower.

"Dammit," cursed Mike.

Mikoto sighed and stepped forwards drawing her blades, "suppose we should get to work."

"Agreed," said Teit drawing his own followed by a smirking Gunha.

"Let's do this!" shouted Mikoto nosediving off the tower.

"Right," chorused Teit and Gunha following suit.

With an unknown amount of titans they went all out. Survival being the name of the game.

Their actions also snapped the rest of the Scouts into action, and with brutal efficiently they hacked away at the titan horde.

They got the last one just as the sun was rising. Good thing too because no one had anymore gas or usable blades.

"Finally," sighed Mikoto walking back into the tower and knocking on the blocked door which Reiner opened.

"The titans are dead, I'm going to sleep. Wake me up when our reinforcements get here," she grumbled plonking down on a blanket against a wall.

* * *

 **1 hour later.**

8 groggy and battle weary Scouts traipsed out of the ruins to greet Zoe Hanji's squad, having just been woken up by the group on lookout.

Mikoto instinctively ducked, successfully dodging the blades that sailed overhead.

"YOU'RE DEAD 3RD RATE!"

After clashing a few times both were quickly restrained. Accel by the Special Operation's Squad, and Mikoto by Mikasa, Eren and Armin.

 **"What the hell were you thinking?!"** roared Accel trying to lunge at her. Startling everyone with the unknown language.

 **"What was I supposed to do?! I was on my own in the middle of nowhere. Killing him would've alerted the enemy. Turning myself into a titan and eating him would've left me venerable. Taking him in we would've lost him to the king. Had he not offered a possible alliance I would've killed him consequences be dammed!" c** ountered Mikoto struggling against her friends.

 **"He could've lied!"**

 **"YOU THINK I DON'T KNOW THAT!"** Accel froze, **"Get it through your thick head Accel, I'm not Railgun anymore!"**

 **"Fine."** He spat, **"But if he turns on us you'll take responsibility and kill him."**

 **"Of course."**

Accel nodded and sheathed his blades, walking away.

Mikoto glanced at what was left of her blades and let them clatter to the ground.

"Nee-chan, you alright?" asked Mikasa softly.

"Yeah, I'm good. Sorry about that," she whispered to her friends.

"What was that about anyway?" asked Armin.

Mikoto sighed, "I'm sure you'll find out sooner of later."

"Why can't you ever give a straight answer?" growled Eren.

Mikoto just shrugged.

"Alright people now the drama is over we have a breach to find!" called Zoe over the uneasy whispers.

"Right!" soldiers quickly got to work, clearly relieved.


	16. Chapter 16

**I cringed when I reread Chapter's 1 and 2 so I rewrote them. Let me know what you think.**

* * *

The atmosphere on the wall was tense. Ever since their argument both Accel and Mikoto were ignoring each other. For the Espers this wasn't really anything new. In Academy City they'd gone out of their way to avoid each other. If they got into a fight with one another, which was extremely rare, it was usually stopped before it really started. Then they'd just go back to avoiding each other. Here though they were still forced to interact, so the best they could do was ignore each other.

In other words it wasn't something worth worrying about. Give it a day and they'd be back on friendly terms, silently waiting for the day one of them would be forced to admit they were wrong.

Shame the rest of the group didn't know that. Nearly everyone was giving the 2 nervous looks.

Speaking of things they didn't know.

"Oi Accel, what the hell was that language?" growled Levi.

"Nothing, forget about it."

"The hell I will. There's no possible way for you to have leaned it!"

Accel grimaced and glanced around at his fellow Espers, also being questioned by their siblings. All except Railgun.

"ADVANCE SQUAD FALL IN!"

Both Teit and Gunha rushed to comply whilst Mikoto casually walked over.

 **"Railgun how did you get you sister off your back?"**

 **"I told her that when the 7 of us united I would tell her whatever she wanted to know."**

 **"What the hell Railgun!"** he hissed, even Teit and Gunha were staring at her in shock.

 **"I understand secrets are important, but I can't keep lying to her. So I made her a promise. When the 7 of us are together, we'll have taken down the king. That was the best time I could think of to tell her. If she hates me afterwards that's fine, but at least she'll know the truth."**

Accel had to admit he was bit pissed she didn't discuss this with them first, but he could see the logic in it. Their siblings already knew something was off. By all rights they should not have known each other but they did. Now the different language has come up, their confusion and sense of betrayal was only going to increase. They had to tell them otherwise they'd lose them forever.

 **"I have to agree. Right now keeping our past a secret is necessary but Railgun is right. When we've taken down the king there will be no reason to hide it anymore. We will have to tell them,"** said Teit.

Even Gunha nodded somberly.

 **"Agreed. If they hate us, they hate us. But no matter what we will never stop protecting them,"** said Accel.

The 3 nodded their agreement and they split.

"Alright Levi, I will answer any question you have, but not now."

Levi's eyes narrowed, "when?"

"When the 7 of us are together."

"Meaning?"

"I know 7 people who from your perspective I shouldn't. 3 of them are here. When we are all together I will tell you whatever you want to know. Until then you don't ask questions. Deal?"

He could see Levi contemplating it, "how long?"

"A few months."

Levi nodded, "deal."

Now their siblings were sufficiently satisfied they could go back to looking for the breach that didn't exist.

* * *

 **30 minutes later.**

"HEY, IT'S THE GARRISON ADVANCE SQUAD!" shouted Nifa.

Soon everyone was crowded around Hannes as he pulled himself onto the wall.

"Wall's perfectly fine," said Hannes.

"What?"

"Spent all night trying to find where they're getting in, but between Trost and Krolva there's nothing."

"That's impossible!" argued Zoe.

"We ran into a search party from Krolva and retraced our steps, not a single titan on the way here either."

"But we know for a fact there are titans on this side of wall Rose," said Armin.

"Oh come on, how much have you had to drink?" complained Eren.

"Why you little... hold on what the hell are you kids even doing here?"

"What should we do?" asked Levi.

"Well if there's no breach well have to change tactics. We head back to Trost immediately," ordered Zoe.

"Right!" everyone walked off, gathering up equipment and preparing for departure.

Mikoto stayed with her friends and closest to Reiner and Bertholdt.

"You'd be smart to keep your guard up," warned Hannes, "we'll go on ahead of you."

With that he swung back down and Mikoto made eye contact with the rest of her squad.

"How can there be nothing wrong with the wall?" asked Eren.

"Excellent question," answered Armin walking away, "nothing like this has happened in 5 years, why now all of a sudden?"

"Feels like everything's spiraling out of control," commented Sasha.

"Eren," called Reiner, "we should talk, you got a sec?"

"Sure I guess."

Mikoto grabbed Mikasa's hand ignoring her questioning look.

"5 years ago we compromised wall Maria and launched an attack on humanity."

Mikasa's breath hitched but Mikoto pulled her forward.

"Nee-chan-"

"I heard, keep walking."

"I'm the Armored titan, he's the Colossal."

"Why are you telling him? Reiner no," hissed Bertholdt as Mikoto pulled Mikasa to a stop.

"We were on a mission our goal was to ensure mankind's extinction, but now there's no need for that. Eren if you want the walls to remain standing it's simple, just come with Bertholdt and me. D'ya understand?"

Mikoto made eye contact with the rest of her squad and nodded.

"Mikasa whatever happens, don't interfere," she slowly pulled out her grips.

"Understand? What's there to understand?"

Accel, Teit and Gunha were all walking in her direction.

"I know this is sudden but we have to go."

"Right now! Where would you take me?"

"I can't tell you not yet, just think of it as our hometown."

Reiner turned slightly and lowered his voice so Mikoto couldn't hear him anymore. She glanced at her squad as Accel prevented Armin from calling out to them, grabbing his arm and shaking his head.

"...Your nerves are shot, you don't know what you're saying," said Eren.

"It's the battle fatigue talking," Bertholdt agreed immediately.

"S'okay if you really were the Armored titan then what's the end game here? We wouldn't be having this conversation in the first place. What'd you expect me to do? Say 'yes' and let myself be kidnapped just cause you asked polity?"

Accel and Teit moved around clearly intending to strike Bertholdt. Mikoto pushed Mikasa forwards, before turning and walking with Gunha towards Reiner whilst Eren was distracting them.

For a moment it was as though everything froze, before the 4 Espers moved simultaneously.

Titan shifter's could still transform missing 2 limbs, but what about all 4.

Within 2 seconds they'd drawn their blades, shot forwards and sliced off all Reiner and Bertholdt's limbs. They waited a good 15 seconds to see if they could still transform, as everyone else stood frozen.

"Dammit," cursed Reiner as he struggled, obviously trying to transform. Bertholdt was struggling as well, but no matter how much they tried their power wouldn't respond.

In all it was all very anticlimactic, just how the Espers liked it.

"Hey Eren, why don't you go stand over there or something," said Mikoto gently pushing him in Mikasa's direction.

"Our plans never go this well," murmured Teit, the other Espers shared that sentiment.

It was extremely rare for plans, especially plans against ability users, to work exactly as envisioned.

"So what now?" asked Mikoto.

 **"We take their power,"** answered Teit pulling out his titan serum, Gunha doing the same.

 **"You can't be serious!"** growled Accel, **"you know the consequences."**

 **"This is our choice, if we want to win then we need all the power we can get,"** argued Teit.

 **"But you'll die,"** countered Mikoto.

 **"Not right away, we have 13 years to find a cure. Besides we both knew when Mikoto joined the squad, we'd become little more than dead weight. Please let us fight the way we always have, with an ability,"** smiled Teit.

Gunha nodded, **"we're not as gutsy as you, so we need something extra."**

"We can't change your minds?" asked Accel.

Both Teit and Gunha shook their heads.

Mikoto took Gunha's serum whilst Accel took Teit's.

"Thank you Accel," said Teit grabbing Bertholdt and jumping off the wall.

"Thanks Mikoto," grinned Gunha jumping off the other side with Reiner.

"What's going on? What are you doing?" asked Zoe slowly, obviously confused.

"Accel?" asked Levi.

"Nee-chan?" asked Mikasa.

Accel pursed his lips before addressing the group.

"You wanted to know the origin of the titans, didn't you? Then I suggest you pay attention."

He jumped off Teit's side of the wall as Mikoto jumped off Gunha's.

The moment Mikoto landed on the ground she opened the box and took out the syringe and serum.

"No," whispered Reiner as his eyes widened in horror and he started struggling.

She tested the syringe, making sure it was working before turning to Gunha. He was already holding his arm out waiting.

Grabbing his wrist she placed the syringe against his vein and looked him in the eyes.

He nodded and she smiled softly.

"Don't forget to chew," she teased earning a quiet laugh as she pushed the syringe in, releasing the liquid into his bloodstream.

Once done she quickly pulled it out and shot up the wall.

Watching from 3/4 of the way up as in a flash Gunha became a mindless titan. Growling he reached for the powerless, crying Reiner and ate him. Then after a few seconds there was another flash, and Gunha was lying on the ground, unconscious.

Knowing it was over she descended, picking up Gunha and propelling them back on top of the wall.

Accel was already there with an unconscious Teit and the both nodded to each other.

"Let's go back to Trost," said Accel addressing the crowed, "we'll answer any and all questions pertaining to the reality of our situation there. Let's go Mikoto."

"Yeah."

They both jumped off the wall, unconscious squad members in tow.

Neither one able to look into their sibling's eyes.


	17. Chapter 17

"Spotless Railgun! That is not spotless!" growled Accel as they cleaned the small cottage they'd been moved to.

On their way back to Trost Mikoto sent a message to Phantom explaining the situation. Then once what happened on the wall had been explained to Erwin, they showed him their letters, signed with the royal seal. Which basically stated they worked directly under the royal family, thus he had no authority over them. No doubt that had shocked quite a few people. Since Erwin no longer had the power to lock them up they agreed to be shipped to this cabin, being guarded by both Levi and Mike's squads.

Erwin will probably come speak with them soon, bringing their siblings and whoever else with him.

"What's the big deal? So what if it's not completely spotless," argued Mikoto.

"Levi is already angry at me, I don't need him angrier because of your sub-par cleaning!"

"Fine, I'll do it again," she grumbled.

He knew Mikoto was bad at cleaning but Gunha was abysmal and 2 people couldn't clean this whole cabin by themselves.

* * *

A few hours later the new recruits from the 104th arrived with supplies.

Jean Kirstein, Marco Bodt, Connie Springer, Sasha Blouse, Armin Arlert, Eren Jeager, Krista Lenz/Historia Reiss and Ymir.

Mikoto's sister wasn't there unsurprisingly. No doubt all their siblings were being interrogated first.

Walking out the open door he gave them his best glare, "I expect everything to be brushed down and cleaned before bringing it inside. Nothing gets in without my approval."

"Sir!" they saluted.

His eyes drifted over to Eren, he looked like he was going to murder someone, probably Mikoto.

She could handle it.

* * *

He approved Eren's brushed down box allowing him inside, but prevented Armin from following. He knew Armin was Eren's 'voice of reason' but this was something he needed to deal with himself.

He along with the rest of the 104th newbies watched as Eren glared venomously at Mikoto before placing the box next to the counter. He could tell Mikoto was also watching despite pretending she wasn't.

Walking back towards the door he stopped and turned to Mikoto, his face the epitome of hatred. Before saying the one word that invoked both their ire.

"Traitor."

He didn't move, he didn't need to as a split second later Mikoto grabbed Eren's shoulder, spun him around and punched him full force right in the nose. Throwing his arm out he prevented Armin from entering, even pushing him back slightly as Mikoto grabbed Eren's shirt and dragged him to the door. Literally kicking him out.

"I'll clean up the mess," she muttered and he nodded, glancing at the small pool of blood on the floor.

Eren would not be allowed back inside until Erwin arrived.

They were many things, but they were not traitors.

* * *

The sun had practically set when Erwin, Levi, Mike, Zoe and Mikasa arrived.

The cabin was spotless, thank god Teit was a competent cleaner otherwise it would never have been done in time.

Eren was still outside, though he would be allowed in provided he didn't open his mouth. Something he knew was easier said than done. Eren was just like Mikoto used to be. Hotheaded and stubborn. She still was of course but only really when it came to her sister. More importantly unlike Eren she knew when to keep her mouth shut.

A while ago Teit had also disappeared with Historia and Ymir. Warning them that they knew their secrets, thus giving them the choice to tell everyone themselves or they would do it for them. They returned looking a bit sombre but said they'd do it. Ideally Mikoto would've been the one to talk to them but she was being too closely watched.

"Is there a reason Eren is outside?" asked Erwin walking into the cabin.

"He got kicked out," he answered before greeting his brother, "Levi."

"Accel," nodded Levi. He may have looked aloof but Accel could see the hurt in his eyes.

"Teit," greeted Mike.

"Mike," said Teit.

"Gunha," greeted Zoe.

"Zoe," he nodded.

"Nee-chan," smiled Mikasa and he immediately felt jealous. No doubt Teit and Gunha did too.

Mikoto looked surprised but smiled back, "Imouto."

"Now the greetings are out the way, lets get down to business," said Erwin and the atmosphere immediately became tense. "You 4 have been keeping valuable information hidden, but I have it on good authority you're going to tell us everything."

Accel nodded, "It's a long story but we'll begin whenever you're ready."

* * *

They had to rearrange the room a bit to fit everyone.

The table was now outside and the chairs arranged at the back. The Espers also got chairs whilst nearly everyone else sat on the floor. The squeaky clean floor they'd spent all day cleaning because the 104th newbies didn't wash their shoes upon entering.

"We're ready," said Erwin once everyone was settled.

"Before we begin certain people's have something they need to say. They've decided it's better for them to say it since it will come up in our explanation anyways," said Mikoto. She'd been nominated as their designated speaker. Neither Accel or Teit had the patience and Gunha would've incorporated the word 'guts' into every other sentence.

She nodded to Historia and Ymir and they stood up and faced the room.

"I am a titan shifter," said Ymir.

Immediately the whispers started, mainly from the 104th.

"Quiet!" snapped Accel who then nodded to Historia.

"My real name is Historia Reiss."

"Reiss as in the noble family?" asked Erwin.

"That's right."

"You can sit down now," said Mikoto and they nodded gratefully.

"Hold on! How come you haven't killed her like Reiner and Bertholdt?!" demanded Eren.

"Ymir wasn't with them, thus we are willing to give her a chance," she turned to Ymir, "don't blow it."

"You don't know that!"

"I do know that," she snapped.

"Jeager shut up or get out," growled Accel.

Eren grit his teeth but stayed silent.

"Thank you," she nodded towards Accel who nodded back. "Whatever happens don't interrupt. You may ask questions at the end."

"That's fine," said Erwin.

"This story starts just under 2000 years ago, with a girl by the name of Ymir Fritz. Using an unknown means, this girl obtained 'the power of the titans' and became the first titan shifter, holding the power of the Founding Titan. Using this power Ymir Fritz created 'pathways' connecting her subjects, they are known as Ymir's people. 13 years after acquiring 'the power of the titans' she died, and her soul split into 9 successors. The Founding Titan, The Attack Titan, The Armoured Titan, The Colossal Titan, The Female Titan, The Jaw Titan, The Beast Titan, The Cart Titan and the War Hammer Titan. These 9 successors later founded the Eldian Empire. It's important for you to know that once a person has obtained 'the power of the titans', they will die within 13 years, just as Ymir Fritz did.

Fast forward a few hundred years and the Eldian Empire had pretty much taken over the world. Then a civil war broke out between 8 of the 9 great houses, it was known as The Great Titan War. I don't know how long it lasted, but when the 145th king of Eldia, Karl Fritz obtained the Founding Titan he conspired with the Tyber family holding the War Hammer Titan to end it. He pitied the Marleyan people who were subjected to the Eldian's tyranny, and together they found a Marleyan to play the role of 'saviour'. Eldia fell apart from internal strife and King Fritz by his own volition, moved as many Eldian's as he could to Paradis Island and sealed the wall.

He then threatened the world that if peace was disturbed he would mobilise the wall titans as retribution, but that was not his real intention. In order to make sure his successor shared his ideals, King Fritz made an oath to renounce war. This oath only affected those with royal blood, but since only those with royal blood could utilise the Founding Titan's true power it was enough. The Founding Titan's ability to control other titans was sealed, its ability to alter memories however was not.

He altered the wall Eldian's memories, making them believe the world had been overrun by titans. Deciding that in the future should Marley rise in power and try to take the Founding Titan's power and should they wish to destroy all Eldians, he would accept it. He declared the Eldian's sins could never be atoned for. That Eldians, that Titans should never have existed. Until then he wished for us to live in piece within the walls.

That was 100 or so years ago.

Then 5 years ago 4 children were sent to Paradis Island by Marley to retrieve the Founding Titan. The Armoured Titan, Reiner Braun. The Colossal Titan, Bertholdt Hoover. The Female Titan, Annie Leonhart and the Jaw Titan, Marcel Galliard. However on the way here Marcel Galliard was eaten by a Pure Titan. When a pure titan ingests the spinal fluid of a titan shifter the power is transferred, allowing the pure titan to regain their human form as well as the titan the eaten shifter possessed. This is what happened to you Ymir. You as a pure titan ate Marcel Galliard, regained your human form and obtained the Jaw Titan's powers. That is also what happened to Teit and Gunha. Using a special serum we obtained from one of our comrades, we turned them into pure titans and they ate Reiner and Bertholdt acquiring the power of the Colossal and Armoured Titans. We believe this is the real reason pure titans eat humans.

In any case despite losing the Jaw Titan, Reiner, Bertholdt and Annie decided to continue with their mission. They knocked down Shiganshina's gates and blended in with the refugees. Unbeknown to them that same night the royal family lost the Founding Titan's power to an outside source. The then Attack Titan, Grisha Jeager located the royal family, killed all but 3 and ate The Founding Titan. He then transferred both the Attack Titan and Founding Titan to his son Eren Jeager. If you haven't already figured it out yet, the King Fritz currently on the throne is a fake. Nothing more than a puppet. The true royal family is the Reiss family."

Almost as one everyone turned and stared at Historia, poor girl looked like a fish out of water. Taking pity on her Mikoto called everyone's attention back to herself.

"Historia didn't know any of this, so don't go hounding her for information she doesn't have. Hopefully you now have a good understanding of our past, but I'm sure you've noticed I haven't mentioned us yet.

The 145th King Karl Fritz made us the worlds scapegoat, no doubt the world still fears and blames us for what happened over 100 years ago. But if they think we're just going to roll over and die, they are gravely mistaken. Because of Karl Fritz's lies our government is both corrupt and useless. Not to mention they're actively sabotaging us. To rectify this we intend to perform a coup d'état, reveal the royal family's lies and place Misa Reiss on the throne. Then we will clean up the government, retrieve whatever Grisha left in his basement, use it as irrefutable proof of our situation, kill the rest of the pure titans, then deal with the rest of the world, and maybe even find a way to get rid of this titan power once and for all. I think that's everything for now," she looked to her fellow Espers, who gave half-hearted shrugs and nods.

"Any questions?"


	18. Chapter 18

"Why did you hide it?" asked Erwin.

"Other than the fact we couldn't prove anything, we didn't want to attract the attention of the Interior Military Police. They have a habit of silencing people who know too much."

"But you're the best titan slayers in whole Survey Corps, why are you so afraid of the Interior Military Police?" asked Armin.

Mikoto turned to Accel, "You can take that one."

"The Interior Military Police have 3D manoeuvre gear that incorporates guns instead of swords. They're also led by Uncle Kenny, also known as Kenny the Ripper. He was famous for murdering MPs, and he also taught myself and Levi everything we know about killing."

"Uncle Kenny?" asked Levi.

"He's our mothers older brother," both Mikoto and Accel grimaced, "and his full name is Kenny Ackerman."

"But that would mean..." Armin trailed off.

"We're related," groaned Mikoto and Accel simultaneously.

"Fuck you universe," cursed Accel.

"It's karma from our past life, I just know it," moaned Mikoto as both Teit and Gunha snickered.

"Is being related really that bad?" asked Armin.

"YES!" both Mikoto and Accel glared at each other.

"How did Kenny end up an MP?" asked Levi, stopping the fight before it really started.

"He tried to murder the previous king, the then holder of the Founding Titan, Uri Reiss and failed. They made an agreement and Uncle Kenny has served the royal family ever since," answered Accel.

"Do you know why he tried to kill Uri Reiss and what this agreement was?" asked Erwin.

Accel nodded to Mikoto and she sighed.

"The Founding Titan's memory manipulation does not affect all Eldians, it only affects those that are also Ymir's people. When Karl Fritz erased the memories of those inside the walls, there were a few family's that were immune to it. Most of them agreed to follow Karl Fritz's ideology but 2 didn't, the Asian Clans and the Ackerman Clan. They turned their backs on the monarchy, and as a result both were persecuted bringing them to brink of extinction. The Ackerman Clan's head offered his own life to ensure the clans survival and was executed. The rest of that generation avoided telling their children the truth about the world, to protect them from the monarchy's purge. But not even that stopped the oppression and several generations later, the remaining members of both clans were still being pursued. The purge only truly stopped when Kenny Ackerman attempted to assassinate Uri Reiss. He failed but became Uri's right hand man in exchange for stopping the purge."

"...Was there ever a moment when it felt like power suddenly awakened inside you?" asked Levi seemingly out of the blue.

"There was," answered Mikoto remembering when she went to rescue Mikasa from kidnappers.

"What about you?" Levi asked Mikasa.

"Yes," Mikasa nodded.

"Do you know what that was?"

Mikoto turned to Accel and they silently conversed. After a few seconds Mikoto nodded.

"I am not willing to discuss Ackerman Clan secrets in front of outsiders."

"But you will discuss it?"

"With you and Mikasa, yes."

Levi nodded and nodded to Erwin, letting him know he was finished.

"I have a question," said Nanaba raising her hand and Mikoto nodded at her. "You turned both Teit and Gunha turned into titans, does that mean all the titans are actually human?"

"Yes. More specifically they are Ymir's people."

"Who were the titans we killed the other night?"

"They were the people of Ragako Village," answered Mikoto staring at Connie, who had a haunted look on his face.

"Shit! How did the people of Ragako Village get turned into titans?!" groaned Oluo.

"That Beast Titan," said Connie almost in a daze, "it was him, wasn't it?"

"It was." Accel kicked her chair and glared at her pointedly. "I know," she sighed, steeling herself for everyone's reactions. "Remember when I left to left to deal with the titans that broke into a sprint after crossing the treeline?" She received a few nods. "Well during that time I encountered the Beast Titan, and cut him down."

"B-But we saw the Beast Titan from the tower, if you defeated him that means-"

"I let him go."

"Y-You what?" Connie had gone deathly pale and nearly everyone was staring at her in disbelief/betrayal.

"It's why Accel attacked me, and what we were arguing about."

Accel nodded validating her words.

"You had the Beast Titan shifter at your mercy, AND YOU JUST LET HIM GO?!" demanded Eren.

"OF COURSE NOT!" snapped Mikoto and he flinched. "Realistically I had 3 options, kill him, turn myself into a titan and eat him, or bring him back for interrogation. Each option came with its own set of problems. Killing him would have alerted Marley, because when a Titan shifter is dies without being eaten, the power is transferred to an Eldian seemingly at random. As for turning myself into a titan and eating him, it is unclear whether or not I or my sister can actually become titans. Our father was an Ackerman and our mother from the Asian clan, 2 groups that are not Ymir's people. Lastly bringing him in for interrogation, there was too high a risk of losing him to Rod Reiss, then even we couldn't have got him back. Regardless my intention was to kill him until he offered an alliance."

"And you trust him?" growled Levi.

"No, but we are fighting the whole world, and right now our chances of winning are so far below 0 it's not even funny."

"Mikoto will take responsibility if he betrays us," assured Accel.

"Why did you trust him?" asked Erwin calmly.

"He told me the names of all titan shifters sent to Paradis Island. It's how I know about Marcell Galliard."

"Then you know this Beast Titan's identity?"

"Yes, he's name is Zeke Jeager and he is Eren Jeager's older half brother."

"What?" breathed a wide eyed Eren.

"I'd have thought you would have figured it out by now, Grisha Jeager was an Eldian from the mainland."

"The mainland?" asked Zoe.

Mikoto pursed her lips, repressing a groan. It was really frustrating when things that were supposed to be common knowledge, weren't. It was because of this they'd had to be really careful with what they said. All it took was mentioning something these people didn't know, and their cover was blown. Not easy for people from a world far more technologically advanced than this one.

"Fucking bullshit," grumbled Accel clearly sharing her sentiment. Even Teit and Gunha were annoyed, Teit frowning and Gunha glaring at the ground.

"W-What?" asked Zoe clearly confused as she looked between the 4 of them nervously.

"You know when you say something that you expect to be common knowledge but isn't. You end up spending ages trying to explain it, only to have the person you're explaining it to, not understand a word your saying. I am not explaining without a map. Now can we please get off the topic of world geography."

Armin raised his hand and Mikoto nodded at him.

"How do you know about world geography?"

"I learned about it in my past life, where I was an ability user from the future of an alternate reality, and could generate and control lightning. Any other questions?"

It said a lot when her fellow espers didn't really react to her outburst. Both Accel and Teit merely sighed whilst Gunha was trying to hide a smile.

It wasn't like she did any harm, especially since they probably thought she was being sarcastic.

The words 'truth is stranger than fiction' had never been more appropirate.

"You mentioned titan's in the wall," said Erwin after a good 30 seconds of silence.

"Yes, the walls are made up of millions of colossal type titans."

Cue more silence.

"So we're barricaded in by millions of hardened titans?" asked Zoe.

"Yes."

"Could Eren use this hardening power?"

"We do plan on giving it to him."

"Giving it to him?" asked Armin.

"Yes he needs to ingest a special hardening serum before he'll be able to use the hardening power."

"How long have you known all this?" asked Mike.

"7 years."

"7 years!" choked Zoe, and she wasn't the only one shocked.

"Mikoto how old are you?" asked Erwin carefully.

"Physically I'm 15."

"Physically?" whispered Armin, though the room was so quiet it was as though he was speaking normally.

Erwin turned to Accel, "You trusted all this top secret information to an 8 year old child?"

"We trusted this information to Mikoto," answered Accel neutrally.

"Who at the time would've been 8 years old," he pressed.

"Age was irrelevant, Mikoto is one of us so we trusted her with the information."

"What do you mean 'one of us'?"

"When the 7 of us are together, we will answer that question," interrupted Mikoto.

"When will that be?"

"Once we've succeeded in our coup d'état."

Erwin's eyes narrowed, "And when will you be performing this coup?"

The esper's grins were nothing short of feral, "The coup has already started."


	19. Chapter 19

**"Was it really necessary to bring up your past life Mikoto?"** asked Teit as they climbed up the stairs to bed, despite the sun beginning to rise. Erwin had left taking everyone except Levi, Mike, Zoe and everyone from the 104th. Both Accel and Gunha had gone out for some air, so who knows when they'd be back.

 **"Sorry, I was frustrated and I've wanted to get that off my chest for years now,"** sighed Mikoto bowing her head. **"How have you managed? I mean you're like 40 or something right? How have you managed to keep your mouth shut for so long?"**

 **"38, and I try not to think about it. I'm also afraid to tell him, unlike you I'd rather Mike didn't know about my past life. But beggar's can't be choosers."**

 **"I've always been a horrible liar, but I understand secrets are important. I've just never had to keep such a massive secret, that I've wanted to tell someone so badly, for so long before."**

 **"You're honest unlike the rest of us. Back in AC when I took over the original Dark Matter, I tried to right his wrongs so to speak. I spent my life living in Academy City's darkness, trying to be the hero I never wanted to be. I believed I was obligated to redeem his sins. It was only when I came here that I realised I wasn't. It was Mike that made me realise that, he told me to do what I wanted. I want to protect him which is why I joined our alliance. I know everyone else feels the same. Accel with Levi, Gunha with Zoe, Misa with Historia, you with Mikasa. We all want the same thing, to protect our family no matter the personal cost, and Phantom and Zuri know cooperating is within their best interests. Besides they wouldn't dare make enemies out of the rest of us."**

 **"No they wouldn't,"** smiled Mikoto.

"Teit," called Mike walking up the stairs followed by Mikasa, "can we talk?"

Teit smiled sadly, "Yes. Goodnight Mikoto."

"Night Teit."

The 2 brothers left for one of the men's rooms whilst Mikoto turned to Mikasa. Instead of speaking Mikasa grabbed her wrist and pulled her into one of the woman's rooms.

As soon as the door was closed Mikasa whirled around and punched her in the gut. Mikoto exhaled sharply and fell to her knees, clutching her abdomen.

"That's for keeping secrets."

Mikoto grimaced but didn't retort knowing she deserved it. Slowly she pushed herself back to her feet, aware Mikasa was watching her every move.

"Are you mad?" asked Mikoto.

"A bit," whispered Mikasa, "I just don't understand, why this is all happening? Why are you right in the middle of it? I just wanted to live a normal life, with you, mum and dad, why did all this have to happen?"

Mikoto slowly approached her crying sister and sat next to her.

"I didn't want to live in this world. There are so many things I wanted to say but couldn't, so many times I thought about dying. That day I ran away, I was at breaking point. I hated myself so much, I believed you, mum and dad would've been better off without me. At the time I'd intended to see whether or not my hatred settled being away from you all, but I encountered Phantom in the forest. He helped me a lot. It's because of him I don't hate myself as much, and I could be truly happy around you."

Mikasa threw her arms around Mikoto's neck, crying heavily into her chest. Mikoto wrapped her arms around Mikasa in return, eyes welling up in tears.

It was a good few minutes before Mikasa could formulate a sentence.

"W-Why won't you tell me?"

Mikoto tightened her arms around Mikasa, "Because it's not just my secret to tell. I'm just the one who couldn't adjust."

"Nee-chan, don't leave me!"

"I'm not going to leave you. I promised didn't I, when I came back I promised I'd never leave you again."

"B-But you always feel so far away. I don't want you to disappear like mum and dad, I don't want to be all alone," she sobbed. "You don't have to be some hero, freeing the people within the walls."

"I don't care about them. I'm in this to save you. Without you I'm better off dead."

"Then if you die can I follow you?"

Mikoto's felt her heart stop as her eyes widened, before she closed them in resignation.

"If that's what you want."

"Love you nee-chan."

Mikoto's heart ached at the happiness in her voice.

"I love you too Mikasa."

"Hey nee-chan?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I sleep with you tonight?"

Mikoto smiled softly, "Sure."

* * *

It was late afternoon when both Mikoto and Mikasa walked down stairs for something to eat. Finding both Accel and Levi sitting at the table.

"Come on you two," sighed Accel as both he and Levi stood.

"Where are we going?" asked Mikoto grabbing an apple from the counter, Mikasa doing the same.

"The forest, to tell them the 'Ackerman Clan secret'."

Mikoto nodded and they followed Accel outside and into the nearby forest.

 **"So are you telling them or am I?"** asked Mikoto as they walked.

 **"You are,"** said Accel without even looking at her.

 **"Lovely."**

"Could you stop fucking speaking a different language," growled Levi.

Mikoto and Accel glanced at each other and continued on in silence.

"I think this is far enough," said Accel after 30 minutes.

Mikoto nodded.

"So what's this fucking secret," demanded Levi and Mikoto sighed.

"There is a rumour that we have yet to fully confirm, that states the Ackerman clan are byproducts of Titan Science."

"Are you saying we're part Titan?" demanded Levi.

"Something like that."

"Fucking perfect."

"You said it's a rumour," said Mikasa.

Mikoto nodded, "We can't definitively prove that is actually the case, but we do know the Ackerman clan was a warrior race very close to the king. For centuries they served the possessor of the Founding Titan, the person with the power to control all other titans. It's not unfeasible to think using this power he managed to create a person who is essentially superhuman. You have to remember as well the other 8 titans were at war with each other, you wonder how many times they tried to secure the Founding Titan, yet until 5 years ago the Fritz family had always been in possession of it."

"So whilst it's still a rumour chances are it's true," finished Accel.

"I can see why you didn't want this getting out," said Levi having had a few seconds to collect his thoughts and Mikasa nodded.

If word got out they were essentially half titan it would cause mass mayhem. Possibly even riots. Either way quite a few people would be calling for their deaths. So really the less people that knew the better.

"Wonder if Kage's come around with an update," mused Mikoto as they began walking back.

"I bloody hope so, then we can actually start moving."

Mikoto hummed her agreement, they'd all had enough of doing nothing.

* * *

They'd just left the forest when a familiar screech reverberated through the air, and not a moment later Kage landed on Mikoto's shoulder.

She quickly untied the letter, throwing Kage back into the sky where he would perch somewhere nearby.

"About bloody time," muttered Accel as they picked up the pace towards the cabin.

"Message from the others," announced Mikoto as they walked into the kitchen.

"Finally," sighed Teit as Gunha grinned.

The others were ignored as Mikoto ripped open the letter and quickly scanned the contents, the boys reading over her shoulder.

They couldn't help but grin at the information, the king was finally making a move.

The next page contained the blueprints of the gun based 3DMG.

" **Lot of weaknesses,** " mused Mikoto and Accel grunted in agreement.

" **Shouldn't be too hard to counter,** " agreed Teit.

Flipping to the final page was a well drawn map of the Reiss family's underground cavern.

" **Layout's pretty straightforward, it'll be easy countering them in there,** " said Teit.

Mikoto hummed in agreement, " **The part that bothers me is this entrance here.** " She taped the passage into the main cavern.

" **It'd be easily for them to defend,** " agreet Teit.

" **Yeah but if we come in low to the ground, or 2 up, 2 down, getting past shouldn't be too difficult. This is of course assuming we haven't already killed everyone,** " said Accel.

The others nodded.

" **So how are we going to get them all down there?** " asked Mikoto. They were trying to keep casualties to a minimum after all.

" **Simple, we give them what they want,** " said Teit.

"FOR FUCKS SAKE, STOP SPEAKING YOUR STRANGE LANGUAGE!" roared Levi.

"He's definitely your brother," grinned Mikoto as Teit and Gunha snickered.

"Shut up 3rd rate."

"Are you going to fill us in or..." Zoe trailed off.

Mikoto smiled placing the 3DMG blueprints in the middle of the table, "This is what we're up against. Their wires are attached to the handles and they can only fire a single shot before having to reload, which takes approximately half a second. Their manoeuvrability is the same as ours but we have the advantage in that we're used to fighting moving targets. Be warned though their shots are more powerful than your standard musket, so it's imperative not to get hit. Due to the design they'll favour surprise ambush tactics, but since we know what we're up against that won't be as effective."

She then placed the cavern layout next to the blueprints.

"This is where we intend to confront them. It's a crystallised cavern belonging to the Reiss family, and where they transfer the Founding Titan's power. This small area at the entrance is where we intend to engage all 44 Interior Military Police members, though be aware 2 are on our side. Don't worry about them though, they should be good enough to survive our initial assault. Rod Reiss along with Misa Reiss will be located further in around here," continued Teit pointing out the section where the transference of power usually took place.

"How do you plan on luring all of them there?" asked Zoe.

"Eren, Historia, this is where we ask for your assistance. Tomorrow night the Military Police will search this cabin, their objective is to take both of you into custody. We intend to leave before they arrive. Thing is they don't know that we know who they are and we can use that. The day after is officially known as the King's Coronation, so the streets of Trost will be packed. It would also be an ideal time to initiate a kidnapping."

"You want them to kidnap us?" asked Historia.

"Yes, it's up to you of course but I promise you'll be perfectly safe."

"Did my father really kill those people?" asked Eren obviously still hung up over that.

"Yes, but you are not responsible for Grisha's sins so don't beat yourself up over them."

"What are the outcomes for success and failure?" asked Mike.

"If we succeed we'll have a chance at survival. If we fail, certain death."

"I'll get to meet Misa right?" asked Historia.

"Yes although you've already met multiple times, because Frieda erased your memories you simply don't remember."

"Then I want to do it."

"What about you Eren, do you mind being kidnapped and chained up for a while?"

"After this coup you're going to tell us everything right?"

"Everything you don't already know."

"Then I'll do it."

"Thank you. We move tomorrow."


	20. Chapter 20

It was time.

Mike and Zoe had begrudgingly left the previous day to inform Erwin of their plan, they'd wanted to stay but that would be suspicious, and they still had their own squads to lead. At the same time Eld, Gunther, Petra and Oluo arrived completing Levi's Special Ops Squad. The rookies from the 104th had also been given the opportunity to leave though none had taken it, which was why they were now temporary members of Levi's squad.

Interestingly not a single one had backed out when they'd been told they were going to kill people.

Accel knew Levi and Mikasa would be fine, they'd killed people before after all, it was the others they had reservations about.

Petra, Gunther, Oluo, Eld, Jean, Marco, Connie, Sasha, Armin and Ymir.

Just because they could kill Titan's didn't mean they could also kill humans.

Lucky Eren and Historia not having to killing anyone. Though they did agree to be kidnapped and chained up in Eren's case so maybe they weren't that lucky.

"You know I just realised something," said Mikoto as they walked through the forest.

"What?" he growled not really paying attention.

"Special Operations Squad, S.O.S."

He gave her the most unimpressed look he could muster, even as Gunha snickered and Teit lowered his head to hide his smile.

Everyone else looked confused, not surprising considering they didn't have Morse code.

"Don't you fucking dare start calling them that."

"What, S.O.S?" she answered with a massive grin on her face.

"God help me," he sighed.

"No, god help them."

Gunha choked on his own laughter and Teit slapped a hand over his own mouth so as not to burst out laughing.

"Shut up 3rd rate, this is not the time for your terrible jokes."

For gods sake they were supposed to be travelling in silence.

"Did anyone else get the joke?" asked Petra.

"No," answered Jean as everyone else shook their heads.

They continued on in silence with only the occasional snicker from Teit and Gunha, until they reached the top of the cliff.

"There they are, right on time," said Accel as they watched the Interior Military Police surround the cabin. "Let's keep moving."

The two groups nodded and quietly made their way towards Trost.

* * *

"I hate crowds," muttered Accel as they walked through the Trost. As predicted the streets were packed, everyone waiting for the yearly ration distribution.

"We'll now begin handing out rations!" announced an MP on top of a stage. "King Fritz had heard of Trost's hardships and has donated the royal family's reserves. There's enough for everyone, please line up accordingly."

"Thank goodness." "Long live King Fritz." People in the crowd cheered.

"Are you sure we're doing the right thing?" asked Sasha.

It wasn't hard to see why she asked considering how happy these people were.

"Don't be fooled, this is nothing more than a political move to raise moral and prevent others doing exactly what are. There is no kindness involved," explained Teit and Gunha nodded.

Accel's stopped and quickly turned around, "Behind us watch out!"

A carriage quickly barrelled through with two men grabbing Historia and Eren on their way past.

"Ah Krista, Eren! They got snatched!" cried Sasha.

Accel merely rolled his eyes at her terrible acting, but plan A was underway. Though he was surprised a bunch of rank amateurs were initiating the kidnapping and not the IMPs. Regardless upon Teit's insistence they had planned for 3rd party interference. So it was up to Railgun and her sister to make sure those guys really were delivering them to Rod Reiss and not some unknown.

* * *

"Those aren't Interior Military Police," frowned Mikoto as she and Mikasa watched proceedings from on top of the bell tower.

"Are we pursuing?"

"Not yet, let's see where they're headed first."

Mikasa nodded.

"You have got to be kidding me," muttered Mikoto as they stopped outside a storage warehouse next to the river. They could make out both Eren and Historia being marched inside at knife point. "These guys haven't got a clue what they're doing."

She jumped off the tower shooting her wires into a nearby building and setting off, Mikasa following close behind.

Quickly landing on the warehouse roof they lowered themselves down and peered through the window.

"For fuck sake," growled Mikoto, landing and marching towards the entrance, Mikasa following close behind.

She'd promised they'd be safe dammit! Why the hell was this disgusting swine even involved in this?!

Marching into the warehouse, the man too busy sexually assaulting Historia to notice, grabbed the back of his collar as well as his arm, dragged him backwards and turned him around. Mikasa followed through punching him full force in the gut, knocking him out.

"Sorry about that. We were expecting professionals, not whatever he was supposed to be," she apologised untying Historia as Mikasa moved to untie Eren.

Mikoto's guilt only worsened as Historia's teary eyes and relieved face craned backwards towards her.

"Sorry you had to go through that."

"I-It's alright. You stopped him so..."

"What happened to the plan?" asked Eren.

"Well we were expecting you to be kidnapped by the IMP's not a group of thugs."

"So why were we?"

Mikoto glanced at the unconscious thug, "Let's find out."

Grabbing him she dragged him behind a few creates.

"How?" asked Historia.

"His friends have probably gone to retrieve their employer, so they should be back soon," she passed the rope to Historia. "Be ready to tie them up."

Mikasa took the hint and passed the rope to Eren before crouching between a couple crates. Mikoto crouched between crates on the opposite side."

It didn't take long for the sound of a wagon to stop outside and there was muffled conversation before the door opened.

"You're sure these are the two we're looking for?" asked the short obese man leading another obese man who looked to be in his late teens, early twenties, and the other two thugs.

"They fit the descriptions we were given," replied on of the thugs.

As the group passed they moved simultaneously knocking both thugs and the young adult unconscious, and pinning the obese man to the ground. Eren and Historia also moved rushing over and tying the men up.

Mikoto immediately grabbed the gun from the man and pointed it at him.

"I'm going to ask questions and you will answer, if at any point I feel you're lying I will kill you and move on to you're fat friend. Is that clear."

The man swallowed but held his nerve, "Yes."

"What's you name?"

"Dimo Reeves."

Dimo Reeves, the man supporting Trost's restoration. Without him Trost would never have recovered from the titan attack.

"Interesting. Why are you kidnapping Eren and Historia?"

"This job was forced on us by the Interior Military Police and now we've botched it they'll plunder the Reeves company for everything it's worth."

So they weren't working for some third party, but why were the IMP's ordering rank amateurs to...

"Oh."

Of course. How stupid of them.

"What is it?" asked Eren.

"Cousin Kenny's being too smart for his own good," she sighed getting off Dimo.

"C-Cousin!" choked Dimo slowly sitting up.

"Ok, what does that mean?" asked Historia.

"He's trying to predict our movements using Accel and Levi as a base. The problem is we're following Teit's plan. So right now who knows how many IMP's are lurking around Trost, waiting to pounce on a target that isn't there."

"Then why are these guys involved?" asked Eren.

"Decoy. If this was Accel's plan 2 of our comrades would be disguised as both of you, and they would've been the ones the thugs kidnapped. At the same time you would be travelling through Trost by some other means, most likely a covered wagon."

"A set up," whispered Dimo angrily.

"But we're here," stated Eren.

Mikoto nodded, "They've tried to be smart by getting into Accel and Levi's heads, whilst we haven't and failed to get into theirs."

"What do we do?" asked Mikasa.

She glanced at Dimo glaring at the floor, an idea forming in her mind.

"Wait here," she told Eren and Historia grabbing Mikasa's wrist and dragging her to the corner of the room.

"I have an idea to get our plan back on track, but it involves being attacked by the Interior Military Police."

"I'll do it."

"But-"

"Nee-chan, I'm coming with you."

"I can't talk you out of it?"

"No."

"Fine but if you die I'll never forgive you," she warned walking back.

"Same to you nee-chan."

"Hey Dimo, you're in contact with the Interior Military Police, let's make a deal."

He frowned, "What kind of deal?"

Mikoto dragged the unconscious guard out from behind the crates.

"See this guy here sexually assaulted Historia."

The man stiffened and paled, but she understood his reaction, he may have hired thugs but a rapist was a whole different ball game.

"So I'm gonna kill him."

The man's eyes were wide as she continued.

"You arrived here just in time witness this, and saw both of us escape through the window with Historia and Eren. Cousin Kenny's squad is somewhere around town, you're going to find them and give them a general description of what we look like but don't tell them who we are, see Kenny doesn't know about us and for the moment we'd like to keep it that way."

"You want them to be kidnapped?"

"Yep, so what you say," she extended her hand, "do we have a deal?"

* * *

Kenny knew something was wrong the moment they couldn't locate the cart holding their targets. Since it was the anniversary of the King's Coronation there were very few carts around and none of them were covered.

They didn't have long since the brat's group would be done interrogating their decoy kidnappers.

"Sir," called Traute landing next to him.

"What?" he growled. He really didn't have time for this.

"We've received a message from Dimo Reeves."

"What does that idiot want."

"Well sir, he claims the targets he'd captured were genuine and were rescued by two females before he could fully secure them."

"Oi oi you can't be serious."

"Apparently both he and his son arrived in time to see one of the females kill the guard and both take off through a window carrying the targets. We checked out his story and there is a dead male with his throat slit, a high up open window and rope on the ground."

"Seriously?!"

"His words appear to be genuine sir. He even gave us a description of the two females, one was oriental, and the other had shoulder length dirty blond hair."

Really what the hell was going on?

"Find them and confirm they are our targets."

It was the only lead they had, but if Accel, Levi and their group weren't there then where the hell were they?

* * *

It was half an hour later Traute returned.

"Well?"

"Sir we've located a dirty blonde and oriental girl leading two hooded figures down through a deserted area. We believe they are our targets."

Dimo Reeves was actually telling the truth?!

"What about the rest of them?"

"We believe the two groups are travelling separately."

"Fuck."

This wasn't something Accel or Levi would come up with. The two girls were probably ordered to follow Reeves's men, realised they were nothing but thugs, killed the guard and fled. Most importantly if neither Accel or Levi were pulling the strings then he couldn't predict their movements.

He rushed toward the area they were spotted already hearing multiple gunshots.

His eyes widened as he caught sight of the two women slaughtering his squad. The oriental girl was strong but she had nothing on the dirty blonde. The girl was like a ghost weaving between his squad and slaughtering everyone in her path.

Even Etsu and Zuri were keeping their distance and their skill was above the rest of his squad, still far below him of course but the fact even they were weary to approach spoke volumes of this girl's skill. He could easily see why these two were tasked with their target's protection, they just weren't expecting such numbers.

"Sir we've secured the targets," came a shout from someone on his squad. He hadn't really been bothered to remember their names.

"Aim for the oriental!" came another and just like that the ghost became human.

"MIKASA RUN!"

The dirty blonde launched herself at the oriental girl just as his squad opened fire. They shot down a nearby alleyway as the bullets impacted harmlessly on the ground.

* * *

Mikasa felt the wind knocked out her her as Mikoto tackled her before shooting down a nearby alleyway, with speed and skill that until today she hadn't known her sister possessed.

Within minutes they were far away from where they'd been fighting, in fact she couldn't see anyone following them.

"Nee-chan," she called hoping to get her sister's attention. "Nee-chan!" she tried again but either Mikoto couldn't hear her of simply wasn't listening.

She felt them falling as Mikoto's gas ran out and they crashed to the ground.

Slowly pushing herself up she couldn't help but stare at her sister, searching the sky for enemies, twitching at every noise, looking more skittish than she'd ever seen her.

Slowly she approached and gently grasped her sisters arm, her grip only tightening when she flinched.

"They're gone nee-chan."

Her heart clenched when Mikoto's cloudy fear filled eyes glanced at her before returning to searching for threats. Threats she knew were long gone.

As gently as she could she forced Mikoto to face her and wrapped her arms firmly around her, nuzzling into the crook of her neck and feeling her out of control heartbeat, reverberate through her own chest.

Still she could feel Mikoto trying to turn around, shivers occasionally wracking her frame but her grip only tightened.

"Mikoto nee-chan."

She felt Mikoto freeze and inhaled deeply, feeling herself relax at the faint sent of thunderstorms that constantly clung to her sister.

"I love you."

Just like that the tension left her sisters body and her arms wrapped around her, one of her hands gently stroking her hair.

"I love too Mikasa imouto."

She smiled knowing Mikoto would be fine now.

After they'd started living with the Jeager family they'd very quickly discovered Mikoto had an intense fear of being separated from her. Even just being in different rooms had stressed her to the point of a panic attack, so Dr. Jeager had helped develop methods to calm her down. After just under a year Mikoto had mostly returned to normal and was able to manage her fear, though Dr. Jeager had stated it was unlikely to ever truly disappear.

This was their most effective method, the one usually reserved for panic attacks.

The one that always worked without fail.

The one that always brought her beloved sister back to her.


	21. Chapter 21

Saying Historia was nervous would be an understatement. She was going to meet her cousin for the first time. Her cousin that cared enough to ask one of her friends (though Mikoto denies it) to look out for her. Her cousin that she'd apparently had several conversations with along with her sister, who'd erased her memories after each meeting. She'd be lying if she said she wasn't bitter about that.

She couldn't remember seeing a woman around when her father had her mother murdered, though she still felt sick thinking about that. Just the thought of family brought her mixed emotions. Her mother had wished she hadn't been born, her grandparents felt the same, and when she'd met her father he hadn't wanted her either. Her sister had erased her memories after every visit, only her cousin had truly shown she cared.

Mikoto only ever spoke about Misa when she'd asked, which had been once throughout the whole three years of training. The reason for this was Mikoto and her cousin apparently did not get on.

In fact she couldn't remember if Mikoto had actually said anything nice about her cousin, other than the fact she loved her enough to ask someone she apparently didn't like for a favour.

She knew they were friends really, even if Mikoto pretended they weren't.

The second kidnapping attempt had gone smoothly but she'd met with her father first which was disappointing. He was at least taking her where Misa apparently was. That was the only reason she was playing along with her father's nonsense.

Telling her she needed to take back the Founding Titan for the 'greater good', as if she actually cared. Besides if they weren't the last of humanity and the whole world really did hate them for something their ancestors did, her being in possession of it would be the worst possible outcome.

"We've arrived," said Rod as they stopped outside a small church. Historia merely glanced at him as they walked inside, with members of the Interior Military Police carrying Eren behind them. The poor guy was still out cold having been given a second dose of tranquilliser.

Inside Rod moved the altar revealing a trap door which he quickly opened.

"This way," he said walking down the steps not even bothering with a torch.

She simply followed behind him down the long flight of stairs and through a large wooden door.

Her eyes widened and breath hitched at the sight that greeted her. Mikoto had said they'd end up in a crystallised cavern but she hadn't expected this. Beautiful bright blue and white crystal covered the entirety of the cavern.

"About time, I was starting to wonder if you'd all died or something," came a teasing voice from below.

Her eyes immediately snapped to the lone figure standing amongst the crystal.

A woman slightly older than herself with long dirty blonde hair and bright blue eyes stared up at her with a sly grin.

"Historia," her father called reminding her where she was. Feeling slightly flustered she rushed down the stairs stopping just behind her father who'd already reached the bottom. "I'd like you to meet your cousin Misa Reiss."

"It's a pleasure," smiled Misa holding out her hand, amusement dancing in her eyes.

"N-No," she couldn't help but stutter, "The pleasure's mine."

She blushed as her cousin giggled.

"Don't be so nervous, I promise I don't bite."

"You two can talk later. Right now Historia has a very important duty to perform," said Rod walking further into the cavern.

"Of course uncle," said Misa as she and the rest of the group followed suit.

* * *

"What the hell took you so long!" demanded Accel as Mikoto and Mikasa walked into their temporary hideout.

"Uncle Kenny tried to be smart by getting into you and your brother's heads," answered Mikoto sitting down opposite him. Accel narrowed his eyes as he took in how pale and tense she was. Her sister was also hovering worriedly nearby.

"Explain," he growled as Teit passed her some water.

Explain she did, from the moment Eren and Historia were kidnapped by rank amateurs, to when they'd escaped the IMPs.

Accel could feel a headache coming on by the end of her explanation. Fucking Kenny, trying to predict their movements. If he hadn't everything would've gone much smoother.

"Well at least they're with 5th now, good job 3rd rate."

He didn't mean to sound insensitive but he wasn't the touchy feely type and Railgun hated being pitied. He knew she'd take the complement at face value so it was best to leave it at that. Besides come tomorrow the IMP's would regret targeting Mikasa, Railgun was merciless when her sister was threatened.

Standing he addressed the room.

"Tomorrow we'll be storming the Reiss Family's underground cavern, as previously stated you are expected to kill, if you can't do that tomorrow's your last chance to back out. This is kill of be killed, if you hesitate you die and I don't want liabilities on this mission. Understood!"

"SIR!" everyone saluted bar the espers and their siblings.

* * *

Their party of 16 walked out of the treeline towards the small church wherein 2 people wearing the Interior Military Police 3DMG were standing guard outside.

"Etsu, Zuri," Accel greeted once they were within hearing range.

"Accel," greeted Etsu, "Everything's going according to plan. Misa, Historia, Eren and Rod are in the main chamber, everyone else is in the entrance. "Though there was one thing."

"What?"

"Misa believes we can recruit Kenny Ackerman."

"Fucks sake," he growled. As if they didn't have enough to worry about. "Alright fine, we'll detain Kenny. Railgun I'll need your help so get your revenge quickly."

"Got it," Mikoto answered.

"Alright everyone you know the plan. Ymir you're going in first, transform and wreak havoc. Espers, and Ackerman's we're next, take advantage of the confusion and cut them down. Everyone else your job is to make sure none escape. Any questions?"

"What the fuck's an Esper?" demanded Levi.

"That will be answered after our coup. Any other questions?" Accel nodded where it was clear there weren't any, "Let's go and don't get shot."

"This way," said Etsu leading them inside and pushing the altar aside revealing the trap door.

They all followed him down the dark steps until they reached a thick wooden door.

"Ready?" whispered Etsu as Ymir stepped forwards.

"Ready," she answered and Etsu wretched the door open leaving Ymir to dash through. Not a moment later golden lightning lit up the room and the sound of gunfire echoed throughout the cavern.

"Let's go!" called Accel shooting through the door his fellow espers, Levi and Mikasa hot on his heels.

Launching into the air he began slicing through the IMPs with a vengeance, easily dodging shots and getting in close. Until he clashed with Kenny.

"Yo Accel been a while aint it," he grinned as he used his guns to block his swords.

"Uncle Kenny," he greeted.

"So you know huh?"

"Obviously."

"Don't think that means I'll go easy on you!"

Kenny opened fire and he quickly dodged around the crystal pillars. They played cat and mouse around the pillars, he feigned attacks just to force him to open fire. Kenny grabbed a knife and charged at him but Mikoto kicked him in the back. As he fell both he and Mikoto shot down after him, he managed to dodge his assault but was hit by Mikoto's. They didn't give him any breathing room as they relentlessly attacked, forcing him off balance as he attempted to use a small hunting knife to defend himself.

It was futile. Kenny wouldn't have stood a chance against him on his own, his equipment simply put him at too big of a disadvantage. Adding Mikoto into the mix would've been unnecessary had Misa not wanted Kenny alive.

He knocked Kenny off balance and Mikoto immediately took advantage, knocking him onto his front and both held their blades threateningly against his neck.

"Sorry I couldn't go all out against you, but Misa wants you alive," he informed now that Kenny was in a position where he was forced to listen.

Accel watched as Kenny's eyes widened, "Explain Accel!"

"This entire coup was orchestrated by Misa Reiss, she requested we keep you alive for whatever reason."

"Misa planned this?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"She knows the truth."

"Truth? What truth?"

"Accel the Imperial Military Police have been neutralised, 4th has gone on ahead," reported Etsu landing nearby.

"You?! You're with them?! Why? How? Since when?!"

"Before I joined."

"How long have you been planning this?"

"7 years," Accel answered.

"The hell."

"Your comrades are dead, you're only alive because Misa requested it. You're going to walk behind me into the main chamber where the Reiss family and Eren Jeager are located. Mikoto will walk behind you, if you make any move she deems threatening she will kill you. Is that clear."

"You think your girlfriend can react fast enough to protect you."

"Mikoto Ackerman is not my girlfriend, and I know she can. Now get up."

"Mikoto Ackerman?" Kenny stared at Mikoto wide eyed.

"Hello cousin," Mikoto grinned.

"Lets go, we've wasted enough time," said Accel walking further into the cavern.

"Come on cousin move it!" Mikoto pushed him forwards.

"Yeah, yeah" Kenny sighed quickly walking after him. "You kids just do whatever you want these days, don't cha."

"Only because you old folk are so useless," Accel countered.

"Suppose I can't argue with that."

"Hmph. Casualty Report!"

"Espers are all good, Special Ops Squad is throwing up against some pillars, so are some of the rookies, the rest feel sick. No one got injured but the only other combat available personnel are Levi and Mikasa," reported Teit.

"And that's why they weren't involved in the main assault," sighed Accel. "Levi could you babysit them for me we'll be about 10 minutes."

"Tsk fine," Levi answered clearly not happy about being forced to stay behind, even if everyone other than the Advance Squad was technically his responsibility.

"Mikasa come with us or stay with them, your choice."

"I come with you," Mikasa quickly answered.

Accel nodded, "Mikoto she's your responsibility."

"You sure you wanna dump someone else on my guard, she might get distracted," said Kenny.

"Mikoto would be more distracted if I assigned her sister to someone else."

"Sister?!"

"We're twins," supplied Mikoto happily.

"You look nothing alike."

Accel had to agree, they really didn't. Mikoto was your typical European with sandy brown hair and the same colour eyes, whilst Mikasa was your typical Japanese with black hair and the same colour eyes. You'd never guess they were related.

Mikoto didn't seem to care, and he could see the amusement in her eyes. Someday she was going to make a joke about that, he was just glad it wasn't today. One of the major things that had changed about her since they arrived in this world was she wasn't nearly as uptight as she was in AC. Now she had a penchant for cracking bad jokes at inappropriate times. Sometime it felt like her maturity had decreased as she got older, but then she'd get serious and he was reminded how terrifying she could be. He didn't fear her exactly but he was glad they were on the same side, not that he'd ever tell her that.

Now all they had left was meeting up with Misa, giving the bad news to the government and placating the people.

Then they could start upgrading their equipment and taking out titans.

Oh and there was still the matter of telling their families the truth about them. He just hoped Levi still wanted him around afterwards.


	22. Chapter 22

Misa stood with their bag of titan serum slightly away from her uncle and cousin as he tried to convince her to eat Eren and reclaim the Founding Titan.

It was useless.

Historia knew the truth, that retaking the Founding Titan at this point would be detrimental to their survival.

She, as well as her fellow espers were under no delusions. They were incredibly lucky the rest of the world hadn't bombed them yet. Using their world's history as a base they'd attempted to determine a rough date. Muskets died out in the mid to late 1800s, add on around a hundred years and that put the rest of the world somewhere within the 1900s. Then given the fact they hadn't been bombed put them before 1940.

How much before no one wanted to say, but they needed to do something now before it was too late.

Obtaining both the Colossal and Armored titan powers had been a boon despite the consequences. Marley had lost 4 titan powers and they currently didn't even know it. That didn't mean she wasn't worried however. Idiot Mikoto had released the Beast Titan Shifter though she could understand why. They could not do everything on their own. They were on an island, with limited man power and weapons far inferior to the rest of the world. They needed outside support and if Zeke Jaeger was genuine, perfect. If he wasn't then she was going to have to come up with contingency plans.

After they'd sorted all this out.

She blinked bewildered as Historia threw Rod Reiss, a man both larger and far heavier than her to the ground, before bursting out laughing.

"I think you just got told uncle," she giggled as Historia quickly made her way to her side.

"Misa you-" growled Rod but was interrupted when Zuri landed near them.

"The Military Police are dead and Accelerator and Railgun followed through with your request. They're on their way."

"Excellent," she smiled as Rod slowly got to his feet.

"Misa, you brought them here!"

"I did."

"You traitor!"

"A matter of perspective dear uncle. I can't betray someone whose side I have never been on."

"Why you!" he charged only to get shot in the leg by Zuri. He tumbled to the ground, screaming in pain and clutching his injured leg.

"Here, I'm sure your friend has had enough of being chained up," she said holding out the keys to her cousin.

"Ah, right!" she grabbed them and rushed up the crystalline steps and began undoing Eren's chains.

She'd just managed to get the last one when her colleagues landed.

"Misa," nodded Accel walking in front. With him were the other espers, Kenny and Mikoto's sister, Mikasa if she remembered correctly.

"You sure took your time."

"We ended up bringing a load of people who'd never killed before, watching out for them slowed us down somewhat."

"Misa what the fuck is going on!" demanded Kenny.

"Kenny, my father trusted you so implicitly that he asked you to watch over me when he died. Yet you've also been doing my uncle's bidding, so what is it you believe he can give you?"

"What makes you think I wanted something from him?"

"You wouldn't have followed his orders otherwise."

"Tsk. None of your business."

"You right, but it's in your best interest. If you don't give me an answer then..." she trailed off, her fellow espers getting the message and pointing their weapons at him.

"You kids drive a hard bargain. Fine. I wanted to know if I ate the Founding Titan would I become peace loving like Uri and Freida. Ya happy now!" Kenny growled.

Misa nodded, "Members of the Ackerman clan cannot be turned into titans and cannot become titan shifters. Also it's not the titan power that made them peace loving, it's what they saw when they obtained it."

"Wha's that s'possed to mean?"

"We are Eldian's and when an Eldian with royal blood obtains the Founding Titan they see the memories of the past holders. They see the tyranny our ancestors subjected the world too. The death and destruction the Titan powers caused. They became peace loving worshippers because they fell responsible even though they shouldn't."

"Fuck!" cursed Kenny.

"How do you know that?!" demanded Rod, "The First King's will prevented both Uri and Freida from speaking of these events."

"Precisely uncle. They were prevented from telling anyone about it, but father didn't tell me."

"Then how?!"

"I told father to write the information down then hide it with something of mine, and leave the location of that something in his will. Everything has loopholes, you just need to figure out how to exploit them. Honestly I'm quite disappointed in father, Freida and their predecessors, they all knew the truth and all did nothing. My father only provided me with information once I gave him a way around King Fritz's will."

"Why?! Why didn't you tell me?!"

"Why should I have? All you did was go around impregnating women. Kenny, everything you know about the outside world is false. We are not the last humans, quite the opposite in fact. We, as in the people inside the walls are the worlds scapegoat."

"Scapegoat?"

"Yes. The rest of the world blames the people of Paradis Island for the horrors our ancestors subjected the world too. We refuse to be held responsible for the sins of our ancestors, and we refuse to wait silently for the nation of Marley to kill us. Because that's what will happen if we don't do anything. We're on borrowed time, have limited man power, and inferior weapons thanks to the will of all kings for the past century. Really we need all the help we can get," she held out her hand, "Join us Kenny and we will either change our fate or die trying."

"If I refuse?"

The weapons that had been lowered were back being pointed at him.

"Right. What the hell, sounds like fun."

"5th," called Accel and she turned towards him, "3rd rate promised our siblings we'd tell them the truth about us once we were all together."

She sighed loudly, but only for appearances sake. She didn't actually blame Mikoto for that. Given what had already happened their family's undoubtedly had lots of unanswered questions about them. Like how they knew each other when it was impossible from them to have met, etc. Not telling them at this point simply wasn't an option, it would only serve in pushing them away. She knew the others understood that as well, they were probably just annoyed she'd acted without consulting them first.

"I see you haven't changed, still the same meathead you always were."

She turned, hiding her amusement as a tick mark appeared on Mikoto's forehead.

"Who're you calling a meathead!"

"Why I thought that was obvious."

"Are you trying to start a fight?!"

"Now that would be far too difficult, and besides we still have a party to crash," she smiled walking to the exit. "Oh and someone bring the trash!" she called gesturing to Rod.

"Not it!" called Mikoto which was quickly chorused by the rest of the Espers, leaving only Kenny.

"Fucking brats," he cursed grabbing Rod and following them back towards the exit.

* * *

It didn't take very long to walk back through the cavern and meet up with the rest of the assault force waiting outside.

"Are we done?" growled Levi clearly annoyed at having been forced to babysit his previously vomiting squad.

"We're done," confirmed Accel grabbing his horse and mounting up.

The rest of the squad took that as their cue and mounted up as well, leaving Misa, Historia, Eren, Kenny and Rod to get in the carriage and Teit jumped in the drivers seat.

Not a moment later they were galloping towards Mitras district.

* * *

Arriving was interesting.

Apparently the whole Scout Regiment was under arrest for refusing to hand Eren to the government, which was quite amusing.

Unfortunately for the guards they could not deny that a group of Scouts including Eren Jaeger were being escorted to the capital by Misa Reiss and 3 Interior Military Police soldiers. Even if they were dragging a restrained and injured Rod Reiss. So they were kind of forced to let them in.

But it was as they were walking through the palace that the most interesting thing happened.

They encountered Commander in Chief Darius Zackly and a platoon of his own personal soldiers in the middle of the hallway.

They stared at each other for a moment before Anka from the Garrison rounded the corner and nodded determinedly.

"Let's go," said Zackly and he and the platoon marched the way Anka had come.

"What's going on?" asked Accel allowing the woman to take them in along with the 3 Interior Military Police members and the form of Rod Reiss, tied up, gagged and bleeding through the crude bandage on his leg.

"The-The monarchy is being arrested along with the Interior Military Police," she swallowed.

"Really? That was easier than I anticipated," said Misa as everyone shared her sentiments.

"I'm sorry but who..."

"I'm Misa Reiss, or Misa Fritz if you prefer."

Anka's eyes widened, "Then your..."

"The daughter of the previous king Uri Reiss and the niece of the current king Rod Reiss, who as you can see has also been placed under arrest. Kenny, Zuri and Etsu are my spies, and we've been collaborating with Accel Ackerman, Mikoto Ackerman, Teit Zacharias and Gunha Hanji of the Scout Regiment to preform this coup. Now if you'll excuse us, I need to see the horror on the monarchy's faces firsthand."

With that they continued on to the throne room.

"...I declared to you in earnest that the Garrison Regiment is not aligned with the Survey Corps," came Pixis voice travelling through the open door into the throne room, and Misa held her hand up signalling for everyone to halt and listen. "But I forgot to mention something else. We are not aligned with your assembly either. That's right. Although I agree with Erwin on several points, I was still willing to put my trust in your government. So long as you could prove yourselves to be the better choice for humanity. Because you have knowledge that we don't about both the titans and the walls. Had you shown that you actually gave a damn about the people you govern, then I would've stood by and watched you send Erwin to the gallows. In fact depending on the choice you made all of us were prepared to forfeit our lives. However you've made it clear our suspicions are correct. It's true we soldiers know next to nothing about the titans and their powers, but I dare say that despite this fact humanity is safer in our hands."

"What!" cried and unknown male, "Don't be such a fool! Just what do you expect to accomplish by threatening us?! You'll fail! The people will never obey you! The monarchy has ruled for over 100 years! You would never gain the support of the nobles!"

"You seem to be mistaken about something minister," interrupted Misa as they entered the room. "This is no mere threat. This is a Coup D'État!"


End file.
